Three novel lanthanide complexes with the ligand 4,4-difluoro-1-(1,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)butane-1,3-dione (HL), namely [LnL₃(H₂O)₂], Ln = Eu, Gd and Tb, were synthesized, and, according to single-crystal X-ray diffraction, are isostructural. The photoluminescent properties of these compounds, as well as of three series of mixed metal complexes [Eu_xTb_1-xL₃(H₂O)₂] (Eu_xTb_1-xL₃), [EuxGd_1-xL₃(H₂O)₂] (Eu_xGd_1-xL₃), and [Gd_xTb_1-xL₃(H₂O)₂] (Gd_xTb_1-xL₃), were studied. The Eu_xTb_1-xL₃ complexes exhibit the simultaneous emission of both Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ ions, and the luminescence color rapidly changes from green to red upon introducing even a small fraction of Eu³⁺. A detailed analysis of the luminescence decay made it possible to determine the observed radiative lifetimes of Tb³⁺ and Eu³⁺ and estimate the rate of excitation energy transfer between these ions. For this task, a simple approximation function was proposed. The values of the energy transfer rates determined independently from the luminescence decays of terbium(III) and europium(III) ions show a good correlation.

Applied methods for detecting water impurities in organic solvents, such as Fischer titration, include wayward equipment and toxic reagents. This method is inapplicable for detecting H ₂ O in D ₂ O, but suitable techniques like NMR-, IR-, and mass-spectrometry are costly. We report a low-cost, novel luminescent sensor material based on terbium-europium 3D MOF compound developed for facile, portable, and disposable monitoring of water quantities. Our sensor is able to determine water traces in D ₂ O and aprotic organic solvents. Treating the material to solvent leads to the change in intensities ratio of terbium and europium bands in emission spectra depending of water content and nature of solvent. For D ₂ O calibrating plot $\text{I}_{\mathrm {Eu}}/\text{I}_{\mathrm {Tb}}$ –%H ₂ O is linear whereas for dioxane and acetonitrile the dependence becomes linear in the coordinates $\text{I}_{\mathrm {Eu}}/\text{I}_{\mathrm {Tb}}$ -ln(%H ₂ O). The results reveal the potential application of developed sensor for ratiometric quantitation of H ₂ O admixtures in D ₂ O, organic solvents, transformer oil, etc.