Solutions of the basic form of polyaniline in m cresol were studied by ESR and optical spectroscopy in the visible region. m Cresol can slowly (during one month) protonate polyaniline. For the first time characteristic features of spin crossover were found: sharp changes in the magnetic susceptibility and the ESR line width of polyaniline at ~200 and 250 K, a smooth decrease in the susceptibility and absorption with the temperature increase from 293 to 423 K, and the temperature hysteresis. The temperature induced structural rear rangements of polyaniline are caused, most likely, by singlet triplet transitions in relatively short sections of the polymer chain. The model of short sections permits to explain the origin of the temperature independent part of susceptibility. Quantum chemical calculations for the aniline dimers and tetramers describe correctly the singlet triplet splitting value, thermo chromism, and HFS constants in the spectrum of polyaniline.The term "spin crossover" (SC) or "spin transition" is used for the description of characteristic phenomena in samples, where transitions between the high and low spin states of the centers of the sample occur upon the temperature change or under pressure or irradiation and lead to the structural rearrangement of the sample.Most systems manifesting SC contain iron(II). 1,2 The systems containing no iron but including, for example, Cu atoms and nitroxy radicals are also known. 3 The energy of low spin states of the centers is usually lower than that of the high spin states and, hence, the fraction of the low spin states increases with the temperature decrease. The geometry of the low spin and high spin centers is differ ent and, therefore, strains accelerating the conversion of the high spin to low spin states increase with an increase in the fraction of the low spin states in the samples, and the phase transition occurs at some temperature. The sharpness of the transition is determined by the degree of cooperativity of the system and, as a rule, the temperature hysteresis is observed. Investigation of the nature of this phenomenon, including establishing conditions for the appearance of cooperativity and the mechanism of an irradiation effect and search for new systems manifest ing SC is the matter of numerous studies. The high sensi tivity of parameters of the systems under study, especially absorption in the visible region and magnetic susceptibil ity, to slight changes in the temperature, pressure, and irradiation makes it possible to use them as sensors, dis plays, and information storage devices. To increase the sharpness of the transition, the centers are bound through ligands into polymer structures; however, no true poly mers exhibiting SC are known. The SC term is applied to both solid state systems with sharp temperature induced transitions and solutions with smooth transitions reflect ing the change in the Boltzmann populations of spin states. The systems manifesting SC are rather few, because they need to fulfill several conditions; in particular, t...