A general survey of the proton spin–lattice relaxation rates of steroids

The spin-lattice relaxation rates of the aromatic, alkene, hydroxyl, methine and methyl protons of 19 steroid derivatives have been measured using the null point method. A simple procedure is described whereby the R₁ values of molecules which have different motional tumbling rates can be directly inter-compared, and it is shown that such ‘normalized’ relaxation data can provide novel insight concerning both the geometry and the local molecular motion of these substances in solution.