EN
New complexes of lanthanides (Nd, Eu) with phosphoro-azo derivatives of β-diketones were synthesized. Optical properties of these compounds were investigated and confronted with the structure and single crystal spectra of different types of earlier reported lanthanide phosphoro-azo-β-diketonates. The exchange of the N-P-O-Me ligand group by the N-P-NR_{2} one plays only a minor role in binding character of lanthanide ions but strongly affects biological functions and properties of lanthanide systems. In vitro experiment on cytotoxicity of the samples was performed using 10T_{1/2}, L_{1}, MCF, DETA and Meω-132 cell lines.