Abstract Luminescent lanthanide complexes have been developed, based on the assembly of bulky ligands around the lanthanide ion, to provide shell-type protection of the ion from coordinated solvent molecules. Aryl-functionalised imidodiphosphinate ligands (tpip and Metpip) provide a bidentate anionic site that leads to hexa-coordinate lanthanide complexes in which the aryl groups surround the ion. There are twelve phenyl groups around the ...
