| Summary: | Lanthanide (Ln<sup>III</sup>) ions were successfully chelated and sensitized with a tripodal ligand. The absolute Ln<sup>III</sup>-centered emission efficiencies were ~3% for both the europium(III) (Eu<sup>III</sup>) and terbium (Tb<sup>III</sup>) complexes and up to 54% for the cerium(III) (Ce<sup>III</sup>) complex. The differences in emission quantum yields for the early lanthanides (Ce<sup>III</sup>) and the mid lanthanides (Eu<sup>III</sup> and Tb<sup>III</sup>) were attributed to their <i>d–f</i> and <i>f–f</i> nature, respectively. Despite the low quantum yield of the Eu<sup>III</sup> complex, the combination of the residual ligand fluorescence and the red Eu<sup>III</sup> emission resulted in a bluish-white material with the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates (0.258, 0.242). Thus, metal complexes of the ligand could be used in the generation of single-component white-light-emitting materials.
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