Aspects of the determination of equilibration rates by NMR spectroscopy

The origins of the line-shape method for determining the rates of chemical and conformational equilibration by NMR spectroscopy are reviewed for the purpose of illustrating the factors which should be considered in obtaining accurate rate data by this very useful technique. Besides a number of illustrations of how changes in rates of conformational equilibration change NMR spectra taken from the literature, some new results using a simple and direct procedure for measurement of NH exchange rates of amides and hydrazines by natural abundance ^(15)N NMR will be presented.