The transport of a functionalised dye solute has been studied in various amorphous polymers above the glass transition temperature. An azo dye containing two hydroxyalkyl groups was transferred from a constant dye-donor polymer matrix to a variety of dye-acceptor polymer matrices using dye diffusion thermal transfer printing. Using the solution-diffusion model of permeability as the starting point, equations were developed to correlate solute transport with dye and polymer structural characteristics, Diffusivity is strongly influenced by polymer T-g whereas solubility is controlled by the balance of physical forces and specific interactions between dye and dye-acceptor polymer. An excellent correlation was established for permeability as a function of polymer T-g, dye-polymer solubility parameter difference and dye-polymer specific interaction as characterised by the infrared shift of solute O-H vibration. This predicted that maximum permeability would be obtained via a combination of low T-g, matched dye-polymer solubility parameters and strong specific acid-base dye-polymer interactions.