<div>This work describes a three-step chromatography-free protocol for the synthesis of a novel organic materials</div><div>building block, dichlorinated mellophanic diimide (MDI), that is shown to undergo nucleophilic substitution</div><div>with a variety of ortho disubstituted benzenes to yield a series of chromophores. Furthermore, 1,2,4,5-</div><div>tetrasubstituted benzenes can be used to synthesize tetraimide heteropentacene derivatives endcapped by</div><div>MDI motifs. The fine-tuning effects of heteroatom identity were investigated by UV-Vis and fluorescence</div><div>spectroscopy, cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries, and density functional theory calculations. Oxidation</div><div>of diamino MDI derivatives yields di- and tetraimide functionalized azaacenes with significantly lowered LUMO</div><div>levels (down to –4.49 eV), narrowed bandgaps (down to 1.81 eV), and high molar absorptivities (up to 84,000</div><div>M<sup>–1</sup> cm<sup>–1</sup>).</div>