Simultaneous Enhancement of Near-Infrared Emission and Dye Photodegradation in a Racemic Aspartic Acid Compound via Metal-Ion Modification

Changing functionalities of materials
using simple methods is an
active area of research, as it is “green” and lowers
the developing cost of new products for the enterprises. A new small
molecule racemic N,N-dimethyl aspartic
acid has been prepared. Its structure is determined by single-crystal
X-ray diffraction. It is characterized by FTIR, XPS, 1H
NMR, and mass spectroscopy. Its near-infrared luminescence can be
enhanced by the combination of metal ions, including Dy3+, Gd3+, Nd3+, Er3+, Sr3+, Y3+, Zn2+, Zr4+, Ho3+, Yb3+, La3+, Pr6+/Pr3+, and Sm3+ ions. An optical chemistry mechanism upon interaction
between the sensitizer and activator is proposed. Furthermore, the
association of Ca2+, Sr2+, or Zr4+ ions to the molecule enhanced its photodegradation for dyes under
white-light irradiation. Specifically, rhodamine 6G can be degraded
by the Ca2+-modified molecule; rhodamine B, rhodamine 6G,
and fluorescein sodium salt can be degraded by the Sr2+- or Zr4+-modified molecule. This surprising development
opens a way in simultaneously increasing NIR luminescence and the
ability of dye photodegradation for the investigated molecule.