inorganic chemistry

LUMINESCENT LANTHANIDE SENSORS

MORGAN L. CABLEa,b, DANA J. LEVINEb,1, JAMES P. KIRBYa,

HARRY B. GRAYband ADRIAN PONCEa

aPlanetary Science Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA

bBeckman Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

I. Introduction 2
A. Lanthanides 2
B. Lanthanide Sensitization 5
C. Lanthanide Receptors 9
II. Effects of Ancillary Ligands 10
A. Photophysics 10
B. Stability 15
C. Sensitivity 21
D. Selectivity 27
III. Additional Factors That Govern Complex Stability 30
A. Steric Effects 30
B. Oxophilicity 31
IV. Looking to the Future 35
V. Conclusions 38
Abbreviations 39
Acknowledgments 40
References 40

ABSTRACT

Luminescent lanthanide optical sensors have been developed
that utilize ancillary ligands to enhance detection of a target
analyte. In these systems, the lanthanide (ligand) binary com-
plex serves as the receptor, which upon analyte binding forms a
ternary complex resulting in detectable change in lanthanide
luminescence (Fig. 1). The ancillary ligand improves many pro-
perties of analyte detection by protecting the lanthanide and
strengthening analyte binding affinity. Encapsulation shields

(^1) Current address: Department of Chemistry, University of California,
Berkeley, California, USA
1
INORGANIC PHOTOCHEMISTRY #2011 Elsevier Inc.
VOLUME 63 ISSN 0898-8838 / DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-385904-4.00010-X All rights reserved