Molecular hyperpolarizabilities of push-pull chromophores: A comparison between theoretical and experimental results

► Electro-optical determined and MP2/DFT computed NLO properties have been compared. ► Significant dependence of dipole moments of elongated NLO chromophores on conformations has been found. ► A thorough comparison between MP2 and DFT/TD-DFT computational approaches has been carried out. ► The two-state model overestimates hyperpolarizability.