The columnar structure of discotic liquid crystals has been shown to be well suited for electronic transport parallel to the columnar axis. To tailor the processibility and mesophase behavior of such materials, several hydroxytriphenylene derivatives were synthesized. These hydroxytriphenylenes can be converted into oligomers, networks or polymers. Further, they can be reduced to arenes which posses reactive sites for classical aromatic substitutions. A number of mixed tail triphenylene derivatives and fluorescent, low symmetry triphenylene discotic liquid crystals were synthesized and characterized.