Evaluation of spin relaxation induced by chemical shielding anisotropy: A comment on the importance of the antisymmetric component

General comments related to the impact of the antisymmetric component of the electronic shielding tensor in context of nuclear magnetic relaxation studies are given. It is argued that in most conceivable applications of high field NMR, the effects associated with the antisymmetric component will be negligible. However, in certain situations, this conventional wisdom may fail and, as an extreme example, it is demonstrated that for highly nonaxially symmetric shieldings, motional anisotropy may accentuate dramatically the relative importance of the antisymmetry. (C) 1997 Academic Press.