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In a combined experimental and computational study of a group of para-substituted azobenzenes, the effects of substituents and solvent on the kinetics of thermal cis-to-trans isomerisation have been examined and the success of DFT calculations in predicting kinetic parameters assessed. Mono-substituted species are predicted to isomerise by inversion in both non-polar and polar solvent, whereas for push-pull azobenzenes the mechanism is predicted to change from inversion to rotation on going from non-polar to polar solvent. Computed free energies of activation qualitatively reproduce experimental trends but do not quantitatively predict the kinetics of cis-trans isomerisation. The polarisable continuum model of solvation fails to predict the experimentally observed influence of solvent on the entropy of activation.

1H NMR spectroscopy coupled with in situ laser irradiation has been used together with density functional theory (DFT) computation to examine the structures of the photoisomers of a series of sulfonated reactive azo dyes. Assignment of 1H NMR spectra acquired at the photostationary state has allowed, for the first time, NMR characterisation of unstable cis isomers of commercially relevant water-soluble azo dyes. Structural features of the two isomeric forms predicted by DFT calculations are clearly reflected in the experimental NMR data. The trans-cis photoisomerisation process could be unambiguously identified in each case, based on the large chemical shift change observed for resonances associated with aromatic protons adjacent to the azo linkage.