Little is known about benzoylperyleneimides 3. Two new syntheses of 3 have been worked out, based on boronic acid and organotin intermediates, respectively. These mild methods allow the isolation of the uncyclized precursor 10 and the introduction of various groups R. The purple benzoylperyleneimides 3 are fluorescent dyes and exhibit a high thermal and photochemical stability. The electrochemical properties have been investigated showing that 3 can take up 2 electrons while 10 accepts 4 electrons due to the existence of two weakly interacting aryl units.