Luminescent hybrid materials based on zeolite L crystals and lanthanide complexes: Host–guest assembly and ultraviolet–visible excitation

Several kinds of host–guest hybrid materials have been synthesized employing a ship in a bottle method by loading 9-hydroxy-2-methylphenalenone (MHPO) or 9-hydroxyphenalen (HPNP) from gas phase into the nanochannels of Ln 3+ -exchanged zeolite L (ZL) crystals (Ln   =   Gd or Eu). The resulting hybrids without lanthanide ions, MHPO–ZL, HPNP–ZL and the hybrids with lanthanide ions Ln–MHPO–ZL and Ln–HPNP–ZL are characterized with FT-IR, UV–vis DRS and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photoluminescence properties of these hybrid materials have been analyzed and discussed, exhibiting the luminescence of Eu 3+ and ligands under the excitation at ultraviolet–visible region. These results provide useful data and can be expected to have potential application in the practical fields.