A novel hindered amine ligand, mono-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl-succinate (MTPS), has been designed to chelate europium(III) ion with 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) as a coligand to prepare polymer photostabilizer. The luminescent property of the stabilizer and its efficiency of protecting polymer matrix from photodegradation have also been investigated. Under UV excitation, the stabilizer has red light emission in both ethanol solution and polypropylene (PP) matrix. The PP sheets containing the stabilizer display significantly improved photostability, which may be attributed to MTPS which scavenges radical, as well as Phen which makes the complex dissipate the absorbed ultraviolet light in a harmless manner. These preliminary results demonstrate that the introduction of the stabilizer can endow polymer matrices not only excellent photoluminescent properties but also improved photostability. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.