Molecular Design and Fluorescent Whitening Emission from Novel Lanthanide Activated Organic–Inorganic Covalently Hybrid Micro-particles

A series of potential lanthanide activated fluorescent-whitening hybrid micro-particles has been prepared by sol-gel method. The precursor derived from 2,2′-dipyridylamine derivative modified though hydrogen transfer addition exhibited a self-organization under the coordination to RE3+ (Eu3+, Tb3+, Sm3+, Dy3+, respectively) evaluated by SEM (micrometric scale) and X-ray diffraction studies (nanometric scale). The adapting traditional routes used in this paper affected the shape of the materials and can be taken as a new method to control the hydrolysis-polycondensation process. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible spectra (DRUVS) and 1H NMR spectra were used to confirm the modifications. These activated phosphors with lanthanide ions represent a novel way to produce fluorescent whitening agents.