Abstract. Magnetic susceptibility measurements and X-ray data confirm that tert-butyl substituted manganocenes [(Me 3 C) n C 5 H 5-n ] 2 Mn (n= 1, 2) follow the trend previously observed with the methylated manganocenes, i.e., electron donating groups attached to the Cp ring stabilize the low-spin (LS) electronic ground state relative to Cp 2 Mn and exhibit higher spin-crossover (SCO) temperatures.However, introducing three CMe 3 groups on each ring gives a temperature invariant high-spin (HS) state manganocene. The origin of the high-spin state in [1,2,4-(Me 3 C) 3 C 5 H 2 ] 2 Mn is due to the significant bulk of the [1,2,4-(Me 3 C) 3 C 5 H 2 ] -ligand, which is sufficient to generate severe inter-ring steric strain that prevents the realization of the low-spin state. Interestingly, the spin transition in [1,3-(Me 3 C) 2 C 5 H 3 ] 2 Mn is accompanied by a phase transition resulting in a significant irreversible hysteresis (∆T c = 16 K). This structural transition was also observed by extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) measurements. Magnetic susceptibility studies and X-ray diffraction data on SiMe 3 substituted 2 manganocenes [(Me 3 Si) n C 5 H 5-n ] 2 Mn (n= 1, 2, 3) show high-spin configuration in these cases. Although tetra-and hexasubstituted manganocenes are high-spin at all accessible temperatures, the disubstituted manganocenes exhibit a small low-spin admixture at low temperature. In this respect it behaves similarily to [(Me 3 C)(Me 3 Si)C 5 H 3 ] 2 Mn, which has a constant low-spin admixture up to 90 K and then gradually converts to high-spin. Thermal spin-trapping can be observed for [(Me 3 C)(Me 3 Si)C 5 H 3 ] 2 Mn on rapid cooling.