Luminescent terbium(III) complexes with pendant crown ethers responding to alkali metal ions and aromatic antennae in aqueous solution.

The luminescence lifetime of TbL2 with a pendant 15-crown-5 increased by 65% to 2.95 ms with an [Na+] concentration of 0.13 M in aqueous solution; the maximum amplification of the luminescence intensity of TbL1 containing aza-15-crown-5 reached a factor of 47 upon addition of the aromatic antenna p-chlorobenzoate 1.