A designer ligand field for blue-green luminescence of organoeuropium(ii) sandwich complexes with cyclononatetraenyl ligands.

A novel η9-coordinated double-decker sandwich complex of divalent europium is synthesized. The complex exhibits blue-green photoluminescence at 516 nm, which is significantly blue-shifted from those of other organoeuropium(ii) sandwich complexes (∼630 nm). The blue-shift was quantitatively explained by the weakened electrostatic field of the expanded 10-π ring.