One-pot synthesis of star-shaped conjugated oligomers based on 3-hexylthiophene, pyrene and triphenylamine as TNT chemosensors

[Display omitted] •A star-shaped conjugated oligomer based on pyrene, 3-hexylthiophene and triphenylamine moieties has been synthesized.•The molar absorption coefficient of T3HTP was 80,890 M−1 cm−1, indicating high fluorescence efficiency.•The use of T3HTP for tracing explosive TNT compounds through FRET mechanism has been investigated. Star-shaped conjugated oligomer T3HTP containing pyrene, 3-hexylthiophene and triphenylamine, has been successfully synthesized via a simple one-pot sequential direct arylation process. The chemical structure and optical properties of T3HTP oligomer were characterized via proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. The results indicated that T3HTP oligomer showed good fluorescence quenching toward TNT, which is useful for identifying explosive nitro aromatic compounds.