To deeply explore the interplay between molecular structure and near-infrared electrochromism of anthraquinone imides, two pairs of unsubstituted isomers (Ia and Ib) and nitro-substituted isomers (IIa and IIb) of anthraquinone imides were synthesized, in which the molecules Ia and IIa took more linear shapes than Ib and IIb. Cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry were combined to investigate their electrochemical properties. Cyclic voltammetry showed that Ib and IIb revealed decreased first reduction potentials and low cyclic stability compared to their isomers, indicating that the isomerization weakened the stabilization effect. Upon one-electron reduction, both the absorption wavelengths and absorption intensities of radical anions were greatly dependent on the structures of isomers. The radical anions of Ia, IIa, and IIb illustrated NIR absorptions peaked at 820, 1260, and 1380 nm, respectively, but that of Ib exhibited only weak absorption in the visible region centered at 660 nm. Gaussian calculations suggested that the electrons were delocalized over the whole molecular skeletons of Ia and IIa radical anions, but the effective conjugation length was interrupted on the imide section in both Ib and IIb. The isomer effects on the effective conjugation length and electron density distribution were considered to rationalize the different electrochromic behaviors. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.