Relaxation studies VII. Nuclear magnetic relaxation due to gas-like rotation in liquids

Abstract

A theory of nuclear magnetic relaxation in solution is developed for situations in which the molecules of interest can tumble in a way that resembles their rotation in the gas phase. The equations are constructed heuristically from the exact correlation function for the free axially symmetric top and the classical limit of the quantum-mechanical equation is obtained. In the limit when the symmetric top becomes a spherical top the equations are identical to these obtained on a classical model by Steele.