Luminescence enhancement of a europium containing polyoxometalate on interaction with bovine serum albumin

Polyoxometalates (POMs) are useful in a wide range of biological applications, whilst rare-earth based POMs provide a potentially new biological optical label. As the luminescence of rare-earth materials is known to be sensitive to the environment, we report on investigations into the photophysics of a rare-earth ( europium) POM with the protein bovine serum albumin ( BSA). Via the use of luminescence anisotropy and time-resolved measurements the europium decatungstate was found to interact with BSA, which was accompanied by an observed enhancement in its luminescence.