%0 Journal Article %A Aboshyan-Sorgho, Lilit %A Cantuel, Martine %A Petoud, Stephane %A Hauser, Andreas %A Piguet, Claude %T Optical sensitization and upconversion in discrete polynuclear chromium–lanthanide complexes %J Coordination Chemistry Reviews %@ 0010-8545 %V 256 %N 15-16 %P 1644-1663 %D 2012 %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0010854511002815 %R 10.1016/j.ccr.2011.12.013 %U http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:21642 %X Due to its extreme kinetic inertness, trivalent chromium, Cr(III), has been rarely combined with labile trivalent lanthanides, Ln(III), to give discrete self-assembled (supra)molecular polynuclear complexes. However, the plethora of accessible metal-centered excited states possessing variable lifetimes and emissive properties, combined with the design of efficient intramolecular Cr(III) ↔ Ln(III) energy transfer processes open attractive perspectives for programming directional light-conversion within these heterometallic molecules. Efforts made to address this exciting challenge for both light-sensitization and light-upconversion are discussed in this article.