Synthesis, Characterization, Luminescence and Biological Activity of Two Lanthanide Complexes Involving Mixed Ligands

Two new isostructural dinuclear complexes, $Ln_2(4-cpa)_6(bpy)_2$ (Ln = Eu (1); Tb (2), 4-cpa = 4-chlorophenylacetate, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine), have been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The lanthanide ions are bridged by two bidentate and two terdentate carboxylate groups to give centrosymmetric dimers with $Ln{\cdots}Ln$ separations of 3.967(2) and 3.956(3) ${\AA}$, respectively. Each metal atom is nine-coordinate and exhibits a distorted tricapped trigonal prismatic geometry. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectra show that both 1 and 2 emit bright red and green luminescence at room temperature, with long lifetimes of up to 0.369 ms (at 614 nm) and 0.432 ms (at 543 nm), respectively. Moreover, poor luminescence efficiency has been noted for complex 2. The 4-Hcpa ligand and complexes 1-2 have been screened for their phytogrowth-inhibitory activities against Brassica napus L. and Echinochloa crusgalli L., and the results are compared with the activity of quizalofop-P-ethyl.