ISOLATION OF THE MUTUAL TRANSVERSE DIPOLAR RELAXATION OF A PAIR OF COUPLED SPINS

The potential of relaxation measurements to provide dynamic information about a molecule often goes unrealized due to the complexity of the processes which occur and the difficulty in separating them. Generalized expressions for several elements of the dipolar relaxation matrix are derived. It is shown that by taking the appropriate linear combination of these relaxation rates it is possible to isolate the mutual dipolar relaxation of a pair of coupled spins, even when both also relax with an arbitrary number of others. The technique is demonstrated experimentally using 5,7-dimethoxy coumarin. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.