Abstract
An EPR method involving measurement of half-field transitions was applied to determine the intermolecular Cu-Cu distances in copper(II)-carboxylate complexes with biologically important ligands. The experimental powder EPR spectra are composed of allowed (Delta M (S) = +/- 1) transitions centered at similar to 3,200 Gauss and of weak intensity, nominally forbidden, half-field (Delta M (S) = +/- 2) peaks observable at similar to 1,600 Gauss. Values of the average interspin distance for each complex were determined from the ratios of integrated allowed and forbidden peak areas using each of several methods. The calculated interspin distances were correlated with the copper-copper distances experimentally obtained by X-ray crystallography. The distances determined from the EPR spectra agree well with the X-ray determined values when the crystallographic value for one member of a series is used to calibrate the series. Less satisfactory agreement is found when methods based on Cu-spin-label systems are used.