Spin-only formula exceptions

Equation (S6.1) is applicable to the salts of lanthanide ions. These have a partly filled 4f shell, and the 4f orbitals are well shielded from any interaction with the surrounding atoms by filled 5.9, 5p, and 6.9 orbitals, so that, with the notable exceptions, Eu3+ and Sm3+, they behave like isolated ions. For the transition metals, especially those of the 3d series, interaction with the surroundings is considerable. Because of this, the 3d transition-metal ions often have magnetic dipole moments corresponding only to the electron spin contribution. The orbital moment is said to be quenched. In such materials Eq. (S6.1) can then be replaced by a spin-only formula ... 

The broadly successful application of these formulas to the paramagnetism of lanthanide complexes was due to the wide multiplet widths in the/block metals (large spin—orbit coupling coefficients X) and to the small effect of the ligand field on the deep-lying / orbitals. No comparably useful formula for the magnetic moments of d block complexes exists, except perhaps for the spin-only formula ... 

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