Main players in EPR theory B, S, and

We have seen in Chapter 2 that the electronic Zeeman term, the interaction between unpaired electrons in molecules and an external magnetic field, is the basis of EPR, but we have also discussed in Chapter 4 the fact that if a system has more than one unpaired electron, their spins can mutually interact even in the absence of an external field, and we have alluded to the fact that this zero-field interaction affords EPR spectra that are quite different from those caused by the Zeeman term alone. Let us now broaden our view to include many more possible interactions, but at the same time let us be systematic and realize that this plethora of possibilities is eventually reducible to five basic types only, two of which are usually so weak that they can be ignored. 

By far the most important influence of a nuclear spin on the EPR spectrum is through the interaction between the electron spin S and the nuclear spin I. Usually, at X-band frequencies this interaction is weaker, by an order of magnitude or more, than the electronic Zeeman interaction, and so it introduces small changes in the EPR spectrum known as hyperfine structure. As a first orientation to these patterns, note that just like the electron spin S, also the nuclear spin / has a multiplicity  

Chemical bonds can have covalent character, and EPR spectroscopy is an excellent tool to study covalency An unpaired electron can be delocalized over several atoms of a molecular structure, and so its spin S can interact with the nuclear spins /, of all these atoms. These interactions are independent and thus afford additive hyperfine patterns. An unpaired electron on a Cu2+ ion (S = 1/2) experiences an / = 3/2 from the copper nucleus resulting in a fourfold split of the EPR resonance. If the Cu is coordinated by a 

FIGURE 5.1 Isotropic hyperfine pattern for 51VIV in S-band. The spectrum is from V0S04 in aqueous solution. Use of the low frequency enhances the second-order effect of unequal splitting between the eight hyperfine lines. 

Biological metal transition ions and their nuclear spin 

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