Spin-orbit coupling bond length

The rate of the spin state change for the octahedral cobalt(II) complexes is expected to be faster than that observed for the iron(II) and iron(III) complexes. In the cobalt(II) case the spin state change involves only one electron, that is AS = 1. The 2E and 4T states are directly mixed by spin-orbit coupling (10, 163). The spin state transition should be adiabatic, with k = 1, without any spin-forbidden barrier. Furthermore, the coordination sphere reorganization involves a change in bond length of 21 pm along only two bonds, instead of all six bonds as in iron complexes. Both of these factors lead to the prediction of rapid spin state interconversion. 

Fig. 5. Variation of the spin-orbit coupling constant 4f of and Sm + as a function of average nearest neighbor bond length R. The data points represent values in different host lattices. Solid arrows show the variation of 4f with pressure...

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