Multimetal rare earth MOFs for lighting and thermometry: Tailoring color and optimal temperature range through enhanced disulfobenzoic triplet phosphorescence

New isostructural compounds [Ln7(3,5-DSB)4(OH) 9(H2O)15]·4H2O (Ln = Eu, Gd and Tb) (DSB = 3,5-disulfobenzoate), with excellent optical properties, have been obtained and studied. By combining the lanthanide cations with the DSB ligand the formation of a singular heptanuclear [Ln7(OH) 9]+12 metallic core secondary building unit (SBU) has been promoted. This core is defined as a bi-capped dicubane SBU, and is a 4-connected node in a bidimensional net with (44·6 2) topology. The highly efficient emission from the triplet state of the disulfobenzoic ligand in the Gd-MOF and the exponential temperature dependence of ITriplet/ILn = Ioexp(-E A/kBT) allow the design of thermometers with different color ranges through the adequate multimetal combination that cover almost the whole visible spectrum and are useful in a wide temperature range (10-300 K) with unprecedented sensitivities up to 32% K-1. The Eu-DSB and Tb-DSB MOFs present an optimum antenna effect, a temperature independent f-f emission temporal decay and, in spite of the close packing of the Ln ions inside the MOF, no concentration quenching. The external efficiency is drastically increased in MOFs with a combination of a few percent of Eu and/or Tb with Gd by means of radiative and non-radiative energy transfers from the Gd ions and Gd connected ligands. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.