Magnetostructural correlation

The magnetostructural correlations are those established between the magnetic properties, generally magnetic exchange or electron transfer parameters, and the molecular or crystalline structure of a compound.

It is possible to study a family of compounds with similar (or related) structures and extract statistical correlations, linking structural changes to parameter changes.

General theories have also been proposed, applicable to compounds from different families, such as the Goodenough and Kanamori model, which establishes that the exchange between two transition metals tends to be antiferromagnetic when their orbital lobes have an overlapping integral different from zero, while it tends to be ferromagnetic when the overlap between the orbitals is appreciable, but the net overlap is zero (orthogonality).