Pyrene-based, red-emitting, aggregation-induced emission luminogens: from structural construction to anti-counterfeiting applications

Herein, we demonstrated a novel approach to construct pyrene-based, high-efficiency, red-emitting molecules. Both of the as-synthesized luminogens exhibited aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE) properties and distinct mechanochromic behavior with a blue-shift for DCI-Py-1 (13 nm) and red-shift for DCI-Py-2 (29 nm). The typical, yet rare, pyrene-based, red-emitting molecules with lambda em = 686 nm open up new avenues to design near-infrared emitting pyrene-based photoelectric materials. Further studies revealed that both of these materials can be utilized for anti-counterfeiting stamps and fingerprint extraction.