ABSTRACT
References ............................................................................................. 192
We are now in a position to examine the specific methods used to determine relaxation rates and will begin with the simple, single-spin relaxation properties related to the Bloch equations. The measurement of nuclear spin relaxation times has been an important and active field of research since the early days of Fourier transform NMR. As in all fields of NMR, the methodological development has been enormous, from direct measurements on low abundant nuclei to indirect multidimensional techniques applied to biological macromolecules. A recent book by Bakhmutov, intended for chemists wanting to explore the use of spin relaxation, contains a summary of the basic experimental techniques and applications (see further reading in the Preface). The measurement of spin-lattice,
T
, and spin-spin,
T
, relaxation time constants has found particular use in characterizing reorientational and local motion of molecules.
