Anisotropic spin-lattice relaxation in lipid bilayers: A solid state 2H NMR lineshape study

In the absence of rapid lateral diffusion, the orientation dependence of 2 H nuclear magnetic spin-lattice relaxation ( T 1 or T 1Q ) in lipid bilayers becomes observable. Simulation of the partially relaxed lineshapes in a T 1 experiment indicates that the anisotropy can be explained by molecular reorientation of the C 2 H bond among a finite number of sites.