Polyaryl ether dendrimer with a 4-phenylacetyl-5-pyrazolone-based terbium(III) complex as core: synthesis and photophysical properties

A series of novel dendritic beta-diketone ligands, 1-phenyl-3-[G-n]-4-phenylacetyl-5-pyrazolone (n = 0-3, G stands for polyaryl ether), were synthesized by introducing Fréchet-type dendritic branches. The corresponding Tb3+-cored dendritic complexes were characterized by X-ray crystallography, elemental analysis, ESI mass spectra, and FT-IR spectra. These dendritic complexes, prepared from aqueous solution, exhibit high stability. Interestingly, the study of photophysical properties shows that the luminescence quantum yields of the dendritic Tb-complexes increase from 0.1 to 2.26% with an increase of the dendritic generation from 0 to 3. Importantly, an "energy-reservoir effect" was observed in the dendritic system using the method based on the resonance energy transfer from these complexes to rhodamine 6G. With the increase of the dendritic generation, the metal-centered luminescence quantum yield was almost the same, and the energy transfer (phi(transfer)) from the ligand to Tb(3+) increased. Further measurements of the triplet state and oxygen quenching of these dendritic complexes verify that this enhancement of the energy transfer (phi(transfer)) is attributed to both an "antenna effect" and a "shell effect".