The Achille's heel of ligand-based NMR screening methods is their failure to detect high-affinityligands and molecules that bind covalently to the receptor. We have developed a novel approach forperforming high-throughput screening with NMR spectroscopy that overcomes this limitation. The methodalso permits detection of potential high-affinity molecules that are only marginally soluble, thus significantlyenlarging the diversity of compounds amenable to NMR screening. The techniques developed utilizetransverse and/or selective longitudinal relaxation parameters in combination with competition bindingexperiments. Mathematical expressions are derived for proper setup of the NMR experiments and forextracting an approximate value of the binding constant for the identified ligand from a single-pointmeasurement. With this approach it is possible to screen thousands of compounds in a short period oftime against protein or DNA and RNA fragments. The methodology can also be applied for screening plantand fungi extracts.