Slice & Dice: nested spin–lattice relaxation measurements

Spin–lattice relaxation rate (R(1)) measurements are commonly used to characterize protein dynamics. However, the time needed to collect the data can be quite long due to long relaxation times of the low-gamma nuclei, especially in the solid state. We present a method to collect backbone heavy atom relaxation data by nesting the collection of datasets in the solid state. This method results in a factor of 2 to 2.5 times faster data acquisition for backbone R(1) relaxation data for the (13)C and (15)N sites of proteins.