A coordination complex consists of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the coordination centre, and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ligands or complexing agents. Many metal-containing compounds, especially those of transition metals, are coordination complexes. A coordination complex whose centre is a metal atom is called a metal complex.
Europium is a chemical element with the symbol Eu and atomic number 63. Europium is the most reactive lanthanide by far, having to be stored under an inert fluid to protect it from atmospheric oxygen or moisture. Europium is also the softest lanthanide, as it can be dented with a fingernail and easily cut with a knife. When oxidation is removed a shiny-white metal is visible. Europium was isolated in 1901 and is named after the continent of Europe. Being a typical member of the lanthanide series, europium usually assumes the oxidation state +3, but the oxidation state +2 is also common. All europium compounds with oxidation state +2 are slightly reducing. Europium has no significant biological role and is relatively non-toxic compared to other heavy metals. Most applications of europium exploit the phosphorescence of europium compounds. Europium is one of the rarest of the rare earth elements on Earth.
Inorganic chemistry deals with synthesis and behavior of inorganic and organometallic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the myriad organic compounds, which are the subjects of organic chemistry. The distinction between the two disciplines is far from absolute, as there is much overlap in the subdiscipline of organometallic chemistry. It has applications in every aspect of the chemical industry, including catalysis, materials science, pigments, surfactants, coatings, medications, fuels, and agriculture.
The lanthanide or lanthanoid series of chemical elements comprises the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57–71, from lanthanum through lutetium. These elements, along with the chemically similar elements scandium and yttrium, are often collectively known as the rare earth elements.
Terbium is a chemical element with the symbol Tb and atomic number 65. It is a silvery-white, rare earth metal that is malleable, ductile, and soft enough to be cut with a knife. The ninth member of the lanthanide series, terbium is a fairly electropositive metal that reacts with water, evolving hydrogen gas. Terbium is never found in nature as a free element, but it is contained in many minerals, including cerite, gadolinite, monazite, xenotime, and euxenite.
In chemistry, the term transition metal has three possible meanings:
A phosphor, most generally, is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence. This includes both phosphorescent materials, which show a slow decay in brightness, and fluorescent materials, where the emission decay takes place over tens of nanoseconds. Phosphorescent materials are known for their use in radar screens and glow-in-the-dark materials, whereas fluorescent materials are common in cathode ray tube (CRT) and plasma video display screens, fluorescent lights, sensors, and white LEDs.
Phosphorescence is a type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence. Unlike fluorescence, a phosphorescent material does not immediately re-emit the radiation it absorbs. The slower time scales of the re-emission are associated with "forbidden" energy state transitions in quantum mechanics. As these transitions occur very slowly in certain materials, absorbed radiation is re-emitted at a lower intensity for up to several hours after the original excitation.
A scintillator is a material that exhibits scintillation, the property of luminescence, when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate. Sometimes, the excited state is metastable, so the relaxation back down from the excited state to lower states is delayed. The process then corresponds to one of two phenomena- delayed fluorescence or phosphorescence. The correspondence depends on the type of transition and hence the wavelength of the emitted optical photon.
Intersystem crossing (ISC) is a radiationless process involving a transition between the two electronic states with different states spin multiplicity.
Strontium aluminate (SRA, SrAl) is an aluminate compound with the chemical formula SrAl2O4 (sometimes written as SrO.Al2O3). It is a pale yellow, monoclinic crystalline powder that is odorless and non-flammable. When activated with a suitable dopant (e.g. europium, written as Eu:SrAl2O4), it acts as a photoluminescent phosphor with long persistence of phosphorescence.
Tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II) chloride is the chloride salt coordination complex with the formula [Ru(bpy)3]2+. This red crystalline salt is obtained as the hexahydrate, although all of the properties of interest are in the cation [Ru(bpy)3]2+, which has received much attention because of its distinctive optical properties. The chlorides can be replaced with other anions, such as PF6−.
A molecular sensor or chemosensor is a molecular structure that is used for sensing of an analyte to produce a detectable change or a signal. The action of a chemosensor, relies on an interaction occurring at the molecular level, usually involves the continuous monitoring of the activity of a chemical species in a given matrix such as solution, air, blood, tissue, waste effluents, drinking water, etc. The application of chemosensors is referred to as chemosensing, which is a form of molecular recognition. All chemosensors are designed to contain a signalling moiety and a recognition moiety, that is connected either directly to each other or through a some kind of connector or a spacer. The signalling is often optically based electromagnetic radiation, giving rise to changes in either the ultraviolet and visible absorption or the emission properties of the sensors. Chemosensors may also be electrochemically based. Small molecule sensors are related to chemosensors. These are traditionally, however, considered as being structurally simple molecules and reflect the need to form chelating molecules for complexing ions in analytical chemistry. Chemosensors are synthetic analogues of biosensors, the difference being that biosensors incorporate biological receptors such as antibodies, aptamers or large biopolymers.
Yttrium is a chemical element with the symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and has often been classified as a "rare-earth element". Yttrium is almost always found in combination with lanthanide elements in rare-earth minerals, and is never found in nature as a free element. 89Y is the only stable isotope, and the only isotope found in the Earth's crust.
Fluorescence is used in the life sciences generally as a non-destructive way of tracking or analysing biological molecules by means of fluorescence. Some proteins or small molecules in cells are naturally fluorescent, which is called intrinsic fluorescence or autofluorescence. Alternatively, specific or general proteins, nucleic acids, lipids or small molecules can be "labelled" with an extrinsic fluorophore, a fluorescent dye which can be a small molecule, protein or quantum dot. Several techniques exist to exploit additional properties of fluorophores, such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, where the energy is passed non-radiatively to a particular neighbouring dye, allowing proximity or protein activation to be detected; another is the change in properties, such as intensity, of certain dyes depending on their environment allowing their use in structural studies.
Professor Stefan Bernhard is recognized in the scientific community for his work in several applied fields pertaining to the interaction between light and transition metal complexes. His involvement in the prediction, generation, and spectroscopy of circularly polarized luminescence from synthesized chiral phosphors have significantly advanced the state-of-the-art in this relatively young sub-field of photophysical chemistry. Other contributions involve work in artificial photosynthesis and organic light emitting devices.
In phosphors and scintillators, the activator is the element added as dopant to the crystal of the material to create desired type of nonhomogeneities.
Photon upconversion (UC) is a process in which the sequential absorption of two or more photons leads to the emission of light at shorter wavelength than the excitation wavelength. It is an anti-Stokes type emission. An example is the conversion of infrared light to visible light. Upconversion can take place in both organic and inorganic materials, through a number of different mechanisms. Organic molecules that can achieve photon upconversion through triplet-triplet annihilation are typically polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Inorganic materials capable of photon upconversion often contain ions of d-block or f-block elements. Examples of these ions are Ln3+, Ti2+, Ni2+, Mo3+, Re4+, Os4+, and so on.
Lanthanide probes are a non-invasive analytical tool commonly used for biological and chemical applications. Lanthanides are metal ions which have their 4f energy level filled and generally refer to elements cerium to lutetium in the periodic table. The fluorescence of lanthanide salts is weak because the energy absorption of the metallic ion is low; hence chelated complexes of lanthanides are most commonly used. The term chelate derives from the Greek word for “claw,” and is applied to name ligands, which attach to a metal ion with two or more donor atoms through dative bonds. The fluorescence is most intense when the metal ion has the oxidation state of 3+. Not all lanthanide metals can be used and the most common are: Sm(III), Eu(III), Tb(III), and Dy(III).
Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are nanoscale particles that exhibit photon upconversion. In photon upconversion, two or more incident photons of relatively low energy are absorbed and converted into one emitted photon with higher energy. Generally, absorption occurs in the infrared, while emission occurs in the visible or ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. UCNPs are usually composed of rare-earth based lanthanide- or actinide-doped transition metals and are of particular interest for their applications in in vivo bio-imaging, bio-sensing, and nanomedicine because of their highly efficient cellular uptake and high optical penetrating power with little background noise in the deep tissue level. They also have potential applications in photovoltaics and security, such as infrared detection of hazardous materials.
