The principal components and orientations of the chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) tensors of the carbonyl (C'), nitrogen (N), and amide proton (H(N)) nuclei of 64 distinct amide bonds in human ubiquitin have been determined in isotropic solution by a set of 14 complementary auto- and cross-correlated relaxation rates involving the CSA interactions of the nuclei of interest and several dipole-dipole (DD) interactions. The CSA parameters thus obtained depend to some degree on the models used for local motions. Three cases have been considered: restricted isotropic diffusion, three-dimensional Gaussian axial fluctuations (3D-GAF), and independent out-of-plane motions of the NH(N) vectors with respect to the peptide planes.

New excitation schemes, based on the use adiabatic pulses, for single scan two-dimensional NMR experiments (Frydman et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 2002, 99, 15 858-15 862) are introduced. The advantages are discussed. Applications in homo- and heteronuclear experiments are presented.