Abstract New perylene chromophores, phenyl-substituted diindeno [1, 2, 3-cd: 1′, 2′, 3′- lm] perylenes 5 a, b and 4, 4′, 7, 7′-tetraphenyldiacenaphtho [1, 2-k: 1′, 2′, k′] diindeno [1, 2, 3-cd: 1′, 2′, 3′-me] perylenes 22 a, b, have been synthesized from substituted fluoranthene derivatives 3 a, b and 4 a, b by means of a surprisingly simple oxidative cyclodehydrogenation reaction. The resulting chromophores, when substituted ...