Excited-state dipole moments from absorption/fluorescence solvatochromic ratios

The permanent dipole moments of excited molecules can be obtained from the ratio of the solvent shifts of absorption and fluorescence spectra. This ratio method eliminates the uncertain solute cavity radius parameter, as well as the solvent polarity function. In the case of the first excited singlet state of aniline the dipole moment is 5 D (versus 1.57 D in the ground state).