Lanthanide complexes of the form Ln(hfa)(3)bpm (where Ln = Nd(III), Gd(III), or Tb(III); hfa = 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoroacetylacetone and bpm = 2,2'-bipyrimidine) have been structurally characterized. The Nd and Gd complexes form one-dimensional arrays when X-ray-quality crystals are grown by the slow evaporation of concentrated solutions of the complexes. Each metal is 10-coordinate with repeating Ln-bpm units. The Tb complex does not form a one-dimensional array under these conditions. Its structure is 9-coordinate with the ninth position occupied by a covalently bonded water molecule that is hydrogen-bonded to the bpm group from another complex in solution. Luminescent studies show that the Nd complex undergoes nonradiative relaxation through solvent vibrational deactivation, while the lowest excited state of the Gd complex, P-6(7/2), is higher in energy than the T, state of the hfa ligand, making luminescence improbable for both of these complexes. In contrast, the Tb complex emits in the visible region of the spectrum when solutions of the complex are excited at 304 nm associated with the pi-pi* transition of the hfa ligand. Emission lines corresponding to transitions from the D-5(4) state to the F-7(j) manifold of the Tb(III) are observed. The intensity of these emissions decreases as temperature is increased. Lifetime measurements of the Tb monometallic complex fit to a monoexponential with the lifetime decreasing as the temperature is increased.