Herein we report the multifunctional characteristics such as aggregation induced emission (AIE), triboluminescence (TL), mechanofluorochromism and temperature sensing of molecular siblings 1 (10-(dimesitylboryl)phenothiazine) and 2 (10-(bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl)boryl)phenothiazine).

Systems, mechanisms and unique phenomena associated with fluorescence enhancement from molecules to materials are reviewed, highlighting the critical role of molecular assembly.

A diaminodicyanoquinodimethane molecule based material undergoes reversible crystalline–amorphous transformation upon external stimuli. Significantly, delayed fluorescence and phosphorescence are observed in the material, with an unusual enhancement of the latter in the amorphous state, in sharp contrast to the decrease in fluorescence.

Bright tunable solid state emission, intriguing mechanochromism and polymorphism dependent optical characteristics of a series of borylated aryl amines were demonstrated.

The structure and photophysical properties of two known borylanilines, 4-(dimesitylboryl)aniline (1) and 4-(dimesitylboryl)-3,5-dimethylaniline (2), have been investigated. 1 and 2 have similar donor and acceptor centers but differ in their molecular conformations. Compounds 1 and 2 have been structurally characterized, and they exhibit a rare form of intermolecular N–H- - -π electrostatic interactions. The structure and photophysical properties of 1 and 2 are discussed in the context of computational results.