A quantitative analysis of the charge transfer (CT) absorption and emission spectra of 4-(9-anthryl)julolidine and 4-(9-acridyl)julolidine and the determination of the corresponding electronic transition dipole moments have made it possible to estimate the electronic coupling elements V 0 and V 1 between the 1 CT state and the ground state S 0 , or the 1 LE states excited locally within the acceptor subunit, respectively. To describe the excited 1 CT state properties, the significant contributions of both of the above interactions together with the solvent induced changes in V 0 and V 1 have to be taken into account. In low polarity solvents the conformation of these compounds in the fluorescent 1 CT state is more planar than that in the ground state (and in the unrelaxed Franck-Condon CT excited state), whereas in a highly polar environment the compounds probably do not undergo any significant conformational changes accompanying the excited state charge separation.