Janus Green B (JGB) and Safranine T (ST) were used as levelers in the through-hole (TH) copper electroplating experiments. Although JGB and ST have a similar part in the structure, the results indicate that JGB is an effective leveler used for TH electroplating whereas ST is not. A uniform plating is obtained using 1 ppm JGB as a leveler. In contrast, ST could not increase the value of uniformity power (UP). Electrochemical behaviors of JGB and ST were evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization and galvanostatic measurements using rotating disk electrode (RDE). JGB could effectively affect the cathodic polarization. However, the addition of ST changed the cathodic polarization weakly. Quantum chemical calculations based on density functional theory (OFT) were used to obtain some electronic properties and orbital information. The calculations on frontier molecular orbital suggested that the electron donating ability of JGB was higher than that of ST, which gave rise to stronger adsorption of JGB on the cathodic surface and stronger inhibition of copper electrodeposition on the cathode. Furthermore, the results of frontier molecular orbital and Fukui function distributions showed that the N=N region or aminoazobenzene region of JGB was the probable reactive site for the adsorption of JGB on the copper surface. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.