Nine dinuclear Ln(iii) complexes, [Ln(dbm)2(L)]2 (Ln = Eu (), Tb (), Dy (), Ho (), Er ()) and [Ln(dbm)2(L')]2 (Ln = Tb (), Dy (), Ho (), Er ()) (dbm = 1,3-diphenyl-1,3-propanedione, HL = 2-[[(4-methoxy-phenyl)imino]methyl]-8-hydroxy-quinoline and HL' = 2-[[(4-ethoxyphenyl)imino]methyl]-8-hydroxyquinoline) have been synthesized, and structurally and magnetically characterized. The nine complexes are all phenoxo-O bridged binuclear complexes, in which Ln1 and Ln1a are in an eight-coordinated environment bridged by two phenoxido oxygen atoms of two 8-hydroxyquinoline Schiff base ligands. Although complexes and have very similar structures, magnetic studies reveal that they exhibit different magnetic relaxation behaviors with the effective barriers (ΔE/kB) of 34.5 K for and 67.6 K for . The dissimilar dynamic magnetic behaviors of and mostly result from the different electron-donating effect induced by the two alkoxy (-OCH3 and -OC2H5) of the 8-hydroxyquinoline Schiff base ligands. Meanwhile, for complexes , , and , there are no observed magnetic relaxation behaviors under a zero dc field. In addition, the luminescence properties of , and were studied.