Abstract The major goal of this thesis is to synthesize acene ethers and sulfides and employ these compounds for the construction of self assembly monolayer (SAM). Continuing our “acid catalyzed ether-ether and ether-sulfide exchange” protocol, we synthesized a range of substituted anthracene derivatives. We then extended this methodology to tetracenes derivatives. Compounds like 30, 52 thus obtained can undergo retro-Micheal reaction to generate thiolate anions in situ and further functionalized. A variety of anthracene and tetracene thioester derivatives were obtained with such strategy. However, we have not been successfully using these thioesters in SAMs construction at present. From other’s preliminary result, we expect thiocyanide to be another suitable option in such pursuit.