Upconverted Photosensitization of Tb Visible Emission by NIR Yb Excitation in Discrete Supramolecular Heteropolynuclear Complexes.

Addition of Tb3+ salts to a solution of a (YbLD ) complex in D2 O resulted in the formation of [(YbLD )2 Tbx ] (x = 1 to 3) complexes that, upon NIR excitation at 980 nm, showed an unprecedented Yb to Tb upconversion sensitization phenomenon resulting in the observation of the typical green emission of Tb.