Light-induced dipole moment modulation in diarylethenes: a fundamental study

The dipole moment of photochromic diarylethenes is determined in solution for both the coloured and uncoloured forms by measuring the capacitance of a capacitor filled with a photochromic solution as a dielectric material. Diarylethenes with different substituents are investigated and the modulation of the dipole moment is related to their chemical structures. We determine a modulation of the dipole moment up to 4 Debye. We discuss the model used to obtain the dipole moment from the capacitance measurements and we compare the experimental results with the outcomes from DFT calculations. The results highlight the importance of conformational effects in the description of the dipole moment of diarylethenes.