Lanthanide-centered inorganic/organic hybrids from functionalized 2-pyrrolidinone-5-carboxylic acid bridge: Covalently bonded assembly and luminescence

A series of organic-inorganic hybrid material with chemically bonding have been prepared through the precursor (PDCA-Si) derived from 2-pyrrolidinone-5-carboxylic acid, which exhibits a self-organization cooperation interaction under the coordination to RE³⁺ (Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺). The pure organic silica hybrids (PDCA-Si) without RE³⁺ presents the small particle size and main blue luminescence with maximum peak 462 nm occupying a broad band from 425 to 550 nm. When Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ are introduced, the particle size of the hybrids increases, indicating the coordination effect has influence on the microstructure of hybrids. Besides, the corresponding Eu and Tb hybrids (Eu-PDCA-Si, Tb-PDCA-Si) show the characteristic red and green luminescence of Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺, respectively, which suggests that the efficient intramolecular energy transfer process take place between carboxylic groups and lanthanide ions take place. The luminescence lifetimes and quantum efficiencies of them are determined and energy transfer efficiency between PDCA-Si and Eu³⁺ (Tb³⁺) is calculated.