Estimation of ground- and excited-state dipole moments of Nile Red dye from solvatochromic effect on absorption and fluorescence spectra

The effect of various nonpolar and polar solvents on the location of absorption and fluorescence of Nile Red at room temperature was investigated. Based on the batochromic shift of electronic spectra of Nile Red and Bilot–Kawski theory the following values of ground- and excited-state dipole moments μg = 8.2 ± 1.0 D and μe = 10.0 ± 1.0 D were found. The reasons of high discrepancy between the literature results were discussed.