PELDOR and RIDME Measurements on a High-Spin Manganese(II) Bisnitroxide Model Complex

A homoleptic bisnitroxide complex of manganese(II) was synthesized as a model system for EPR spectroscopic distance determinations involving high-spin metal ions and more than one distance. The performance of the RIDME experiment is compared with that of the more frequently used PELDOR experiment. It is shown that the PELDOR experiment yields both distances, Mn(II)-nitroxide and nitroxide-nitroxide, and that they can be separated to a certain extent, whereas the RIDME experiment yields only the Mn(II)-nitroxide distance. Both pulse sequences yield artifacts, either due to multispin effects or higher electron-spin transitions. Orientation selection is mostly introduced by the nitroxide signal and can be averaged out by variation of the observer field in the RIDME experiment. Thus, both methods might be used complementarily to obtain a reliable picture of an unknown system.