Jin, CH (Jin, Chao-Hui)[ 1,2 ] ; Zhu, TT (Zhu, Ting-Ting)[ 1,2 ] ; Xi, ZH (Xi, Zhen-Hua)[ 1,2 ] ; Chai, JL (Chai, Jia-Lu)[ 1,2 ] ; Zhang, XW (Zhang, Xiao-Wen)[ 1,2 ] ; Han, J (Han, Jie)[ 3 ]* ; Zhao, XL (Zhao, Xiao-Li)[ 4 ] *; Chen, XD (Chen, Xu-Dong)[ 1,2,5 ] *（陈旭东）

[ 1 ]‎ Nanjing Normal Univ, Jiangsu Collaborat Innovat Ctr Biomed Funct Mat, Sch Chem & Mat Sci, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu, Peoples R China
[ 2 ]‎ Nanjing Normal Univ, Jiangsu Key Lab New Power Batteries, Sch Chem & Mat Sci, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu, Peoples R China
[ 3 ]‎ Open Univ Hong Kong, Sch Sci & Technol, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Peoples R China
[ 4 ]‎ East China Normal Univ, Dept Chem, Shanghai Key Lab Green Chem & Chem Proc, Shanghai 200062, Peoples R China
[ 5 ]‎ Nanjing Univ, State Key Lab Coordinat Chem, Nanjing 210093, Jiangsu, Peoples R China

JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR STRUCTURE  2020,15，128941

Based on a novel C-3 symmetric tripodal ligand 1,1',1 ''-[(2,4,6-trimethyl-1,3,5-benzenetriyl) tris(methylene)]tris[2(1H)-pyridinone], eight isostructural lanthanide coordination complexes have been constructed. The one-dimensional ladder-like chain structures in these complexes are packed together through the interaction of hydrogen bonding and pi-pi stacking, leading to the formation of a three-dimensional structure with one-dimensional channels. A systematic study on Ln-O bond lengths in this family of complexes revealed that Ln-O distances exhibited a trend according to the lanthanide contraction. And the torsion angles that define the ligand conformation are different for the pyridone groups on distinct side of the plane of the central phenyl ring. Selected complex from the family shows highly selective and sensitive fluorescence quenching by Fe3+ ion, which is not affected by other common metal ions. The Stern-Volmer curve regarding the fluorescence quenching of Fe(3+ )toward the complex exhibits perfect linearity for a variety of concentrations, demonstrating the complex to be a good candidate as highly selective, efficient, and quantitative fluorescent probe for Fe3+. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.