AIE-active mechanoluminescent discotic liquid crystals for applications in OLEDs and bio-imaging.

A multifunctional molecular design of fluorescent discotic liquid crystal (DLC) consisting of a tetraphenylethylene core is reported, which is found to serve as an excellent solid-state emitter in OLED devices with EQE of 4.4% and tunable mechanochromism. X-ray diffraction studies unveiled that change in supramolecular self-assembly is the physical origin of mechanochromism. The luminescent DLC molecule has been shown to act as a highly selective probe for labelling acidic cellular compartments (such as lysosomes) in bio-imaging using HeLa cells.