Lanthanide-based, water-soluble, white light-emitting coordination complexes for multitarget luminescence detection

Water-based multitarget response materials have received considerable research attention. Here, by reasonably tuning the ratio of Eu, Tb, 4,4′-biphenyldicarboxylic acid (H2BPDC) and polyethyleneimine (PEI), we synthesized a water-soluble, single-wavelength-excitation, white light-emitting material and realized multitarget detection by using the change in luminescence color as a signal. The composite luminescence materials showed different luminescence colors after interacting with five different targets. In contrast to other multitarget sensing materials, this material has the advantages of simple synthesis, high integration and convenient detection procedures.