A novel organo-functionalized mesoporous MCM-41 type of hybrid materials MCM-Si-DPBB was synthesized by co-condensation of bidentate Si(OR)(3) substituted N,N-2-diphenyloxyphosphine-4-bromomethyl-benzenamine (Si-DPBB) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in the presence of the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant as template. Its ternary europium complex covalently bonded to the silica-based network MCM-Si-DPBB-Eu was also prepared by introduction the Eu(DBM)(3)(H2O)(2) into the hybrid materials. The hybrid material MCM-Si-DPBB-Eu has strong luminescence, and when excited by the ligands absorption wavelength (386 nm), it displays the emission of the EU3(+) D-5(0)-F-7(J) (J = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) transition lines due to the efficient energy transfer from the ligands to EU3+. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.