A new class of benzimidazole-substituted 8-hydroxyquinoline ligands has been prepared that contain a monoanionic tridentate N, N, O-coordinating unit. These ligands form charge-neutral lanthanide complexes of the type [Ln(L-R)(3)] center dot nH(2)O or [Ln(2)(L2)(3)]center dot nH(2)O (n = 1-3) with early lanthanides from La-III to Gd-III inclusive. Crystallographic characterization was carried out for 11 complexes with 6 different ligands. In all of these structures, the lanthanide ion was found to be nine-coordinated by three ligands arranged in an "up-up-down" fashion around the metal center. The coordination environment can be described as a tricapped trigonal prism, with N atoms of quinoline rings occupying capping positions. Upon deprotonation of the ligand and complex formation, a new absorption band appears in the visible range of the spectrum with a maximum in the range of 466-483 nm and molar absorption coefficient of (7.2 - 18) x 10(3) M-1 cm(-1). Its origin is likely to be an intraligand phenolate-to-pyridyl charge transfer transition centered on the 8-hydroxyquinolate chromophore. Upon excitation in ligand absorption bands, new Nd-III complexes display characteristic metal-centered luminescence in the near-infrared region from 850 to 1450 nm with quantum yields and lifetimes in solid state at room temperature as high as 0.34% and 1.2 mu s, respectively.