Novel stable ytterbium acetylacetonate-quinaldinate complexes as single-molecule magnets and surprisingly efficient luminophores.

The first Yb complexes comprising a quinoline-2-carboxylate (quinaldinate, Q) ligand, namely 1D-polymeric [Yb(acac)(Q)] (1, acac is the acetylacetonate (pentane-2,4-dionate) anion) and mononuclear [Yb(acac)(Q)(Phen)] (2, Phen is 1,10-phenanthroline), are reported. The bifunctionality of both complexes as field-induced single-molecule magnets (SMMs) and near IR luminophores has been revealed. The SMM properties of 1 and 2 have been discussed in terms of the geometry and composition of the coordination environment.