ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the most applications of nuclear relaxation spectroscopy. Double resonance determinations of nuclear relaxation paramaters such as homo-and hetero-nuclear Overhauser effects and mono-, bi-, and nonselective spin-lattice relaxation rates, have confirmed that the dipolar relaxation mechanism overwhelmingly controls the relaxation process of 1H and 13C nuclei in biomolecular systems. A combined use of different relaxation parameters may quantitatively yield information of internuclear distances, molecular motions, and internuclear interactions. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of a macromolecule is usually a broad envelope which seldom allows one to distinguish any individual resonance lines. As a consequence, the problem of studying interactions between a small ligand and its macromolecular receptor must then be approached by observation of any changes in the NMR parameters of the ligand caused by the presence of the macro molecule.
