Abstracts

In the present contribution, a journey around the possible optical and chiroptical applications of chiral luminescent lanthanide-based complexes is described, with particular attention to the technological and biomedical fields. We will focus our attention on luminescent ions, such as Eu(III), Tb(III) and Yb(III) and chiral ligands containing oxygen and nitrogen donating atoms. The design of the best ligand/metal ion couple to obtain a satisfying thermodynamic stability of the complex and an efficient luminescence in the visible and Near Infrared (NIR) spectral region will be discussed. Also, we will see how to play with the ligand chirality to obtain a good chiroptical emission (Circularly Polarized Luminescence). Finally, the potential role of the discussed complexes in some emerging chiroptical applications in the aforementioned fields will be presented (i.e. the investigation of chiral molecular interactions in living cells and the use of the circularly polarized emission for the production of advanced security inks).