The method was developed with and applied to three model complexes, [Cu 2 (µ-O)(NH 3 ) 6 ] +2 , [Ni 2 (µ-O)(NH 3 ) 6 ] +2 and [Fe 2 (µ-O)(NH 3 ) 10 ] +2 , with increasing numbers and different types of exchange coupling paths. Importantly, different types of structural variation are needed to obtain meaningful variations in the overall J coupling constant: while a simple angular scan was sufficient for the copper and nickel cases, a scan of the M -O -M -N dihedral angle was needed for the iron example due to the limited response of the magnetic coupling towards a variation in the M -O -M angle. For future application studies, we recommend a minimal change of the J coupling constant of 1 cm -1 over the scan range. We find that the ferromagnetic components remain fairly consistent across these complexes within a range of 13 -32 cm -1 , matching the expectations of R. Hoffmann. The antiferromagnetic contribution of the σ path gradually weakens from copper to nickel to iron, and the π paths each contribute approximately half as much as the σ path to the overall coupling in the iron complexes. In all complexes, the δ paths are irrelevant for the overall coupling, as expected.