Crystal structure and triboluminescence spectrum of a centrosymmetric lanthanide complex imidazolium tetrakis(dibenzoylmethanato)europate

Triboluminescence of imidazolium tetrakis(dibenzoylmethanato)europate (1) w as observed. Its crystal structure and the triboluminescent spectrum were d etermined. The crystal is centrosymmetric and the triboluminscent maximum i s similar to that of its photoluminescence. Complex 1 is easily deformable and has weakly bonded interactions between ions and molecules in its lattic e; these properties may be responsible for the triboluminescent activity. C omplex 1 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Phcn with cell parame ters a = 9.844(2), b = 25.701(2), c = 21.171(4) Angstrom; V = 5356(2) Angst rom(3) and Z = 4. The structure was refined by full-matrix least squares me thods to R = 0.024 and R-w = 0.028.