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

[Image: see text] 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, (1)H NMR, and mass spectroscopy. Its near-infrared luminescence can be enhanced by the combination of metal ions, including Dy(3+), Gd(3+), Nd(3+), Er(3+), Sr(3+), Y(3+), Zn(2+), Zr(4+), Ho(3+), Yb(3+), La(3+), Pr(6+)/Pr(3+), and Sm(3+) ions. An optical chemistry mechanism upon interaction between the sensitizer and activator is proposed. Furthermore, the association of Ca(2+), Sr(2+), or Zr(4+) ions to the molecule enhanced its photodegradation for dyes under white-light irradiation. Specifically, rhodamine 6G can be degraded by the Ca(2+)-modified molecule; rhodamine B, rhodamine 6G, and fluorescein sodium salt can be degraded by the Sr(2+)- or Zr(4+)-modified molecule. This surprising development opens a way in simultaneously increasing NIR luminescence and the ability of dye photodegradation for the investigated molecule.