Substitutional photoluminescence modulation in adducts of a europium chelate with a range of alkali metal cations: a gas-phase study.

We present gas-phase dispersed photoluminescence spectra of europium(III) 9-hydroxyphenalen-1-one (HPLN) complexes forming adducts with alkali metal ions ([Eu(PLN)3M](+) with M = Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs) confined in a quadrupole ion trap for study. The mass selected alkali metal cation adducts display a split hypersensitive (5)D0 → (7)F2 Eu(3+) emission band. One of the two emission components shows a linear dependence on the radius of the alkali metal cation whereas the other component displays a quadratic dependence thereon. In addition, the relative intensities of both components invert in the same order. The experimental results are interpreted with the support of density functional calculations and Judd-Ofelt theory, yielding also structural information on the isolated [Eu(PLN)3M](+) chromophores.