A study of the relationship between the spin relaxation and certain chemical properties of paramagnetic iron(III) salt solutions by Mössbauer spectroscopy

The paramagnetic spin-relaxation phenomenon in iron salt solutions was studied by the method of Mössbauer spectroscopy. It has been found that the nature of the chemical bonding between iron and its ligand sphere (bonding conditions) influences the magnitude of the internal magnetic field pertaining to the m_I = ±3/2 → ±1/2 transition of the Kramers doublet S_z = ±5/2, and by increasing the asymmetry of the 3d electron orbital the frequency of spin-lattice relaxation, i.e. relaxation time. The method provides information on the number of solvated and complex species of iron present in the solution under investigation, as well as on the relative quantities of the components. The experiments have shown that the study of paramagnetic spin relaxation will provide manifold information on the chemical structure of the investigated systems.