Three alkynyl-functionalised, hand-shaped, highly fluorescent and stable emitters, namely, 2- tert-butyl-4, 5, 7, 9, 10-pentakis (pR-phenylethynyl) pyrenes have been successfully synthesized via a Pd/Cu-catalysed Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction. The chemical structures of the alkynylpyrenes were fully characterized by their 1H/13C NMR spectra, mass spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Synchrotron single-crystal X-ray analysis revealed ...