The synthesis, optical characterization and 3 computational modeling of seven benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (BTD) donor-acceptor dyes are reported. These dyes have been studied using electrochemical analysis, electronic absorption, emission, and Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopies coupled with various density functional theoretical approaches. Crystal structure geometries on a number of these compounds are also reported. The optical spectra are dominated by low energy charge-transfer states; this may be modulated by the coupling between donor and acceptor through variation in donor energy, variation of the donor-acceptor torsion angle, and incorporation of an insulating bridge. These modifications result in a perturbation of the excitation energy for this charge-transfer transition of up to similar to 2000 cm(-1). Emission spectra exhibit significant solvatochromisim, with Lippert-Mataga analysis yielding mu u between 8 and 33 D. Predicted lambda(max), epsilon, and Raman cross sections calculated by M06L, B3LYP, PBE0, M06, CAM-B3LYP, and omega B97XD DFT functionals were compared to experimental results and analyzed using multivariate analysis, which shows that hybrid functionals with 20-27% HF best predict ground state absorption, while long-range corrected functionals best predict molecular polarizabilities.