Self-Assembly of Luminescent Hexanuclear Lanthanide Salen Complexes

Four hexanuclear lanthanide salen complexes [Ln 6 (L 1 ) 4 (OH) 4 (MeOH) 4 ]·2Cl·4MeOH (Ln = Nd ( 1 ), Tb ( 2 )), [Eu 6 (L 2 ) 4 (OH) 4 (MeOH) 2 (EtOH) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ]·2Cl·3EtOH·H 2 O ( 3 ), and [Er 6 (L 2 ) 4 (OH) 4 (EtOH) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ]·2Cl·2EtOH·MeOH·H 2 O ( 4 ) are formed from the reactions of LnCl 3 ·6H 2 O and flexible Schiff base ligands H 2 L 1 and H 2 L 2 (H 2 L 1 = N, N ′-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)(propylene-2-ol)-1,3-diamine, H 2 L 2 = N, N ′-bis(salicylidene)(propylene-2-ol)-1,3-diamine). The structures of 1 – 4 were determined by single crystal X-ray crystallographic studies, and their luminescence properties were determined.