The backbone conformation of peptides and proteins is completely defined by the torsion angles
(φ,ψ,ω) of each amino acid residue along the polypeptide chain. We demonstrate a solid-state NMR method
based on heteronuclear distance measurements for determining (φ,ψ) angles. Simple and reliable deuterium
phase modulated pulses (PM5) reintroduce dipolar couplings between 2H and a spin-1/2 nucleus. Measuring
the 13C
i-
1{2H
i
α} REDOR distance across a peptide bond results in the torsion angle φ
i
as a consequence of the
restricted geometry of the peptide backbone. The 15N
i+
1{2H
i
α} REDOR distance across a peptide bond defines
the torsion angle ψ
i
. This approach is demonstrated for both the 3-spin X{2H2}REDOR case of glycine and
the 2-spin X{2H}REDOR case, represented by l-alanine, using two different tripeptides. It is shown that the
technique can handle multiple sample conformations. PM5-REDOR decay curves of the ψ angle show distinctly
different behaviors between α-helix and β-sheet backbone conformations.