Two distinctly fluorescent BioAIEgens originated from the combination of natural rosin and chromophoric triphenylamine

•Because the rigid alicyclic ring of dehydroabietic acid has the effect of restricting the molecular motion, we obtained two rosin-based BioAIEgens by combining DA with large chromophoric triphenylamine.•DAA-TPA obtained by connecting TPA with the aliphatic ring of DA has TICT-AIE, while the DAMBA-TPA obtained by connecting TPA with the aromatic ring of DA shows an atypical AIE.•Based on the TICT-AIE performance of DAA-TPA, we applied it to the detection of trace water in organic solvents.