The proton and carbon-13 resonance signals of carnosine (β-alanyl-L-histidine) were unambiguously assigned using a variety of nmr techniques including proton–carbon chemical shift correlations, titrations of nmr chemical shifts, coupling constants, and isotope shifts. From the 13C nmr titration, carnosine's three pKa values were estimated to be 2.7, 7.1, and 10.6, and it was found that the imidazole ring existed predominantly as the 3-H tautomer in basic solution. Conformational information about the Cα—Cβ bond and about the N—Cα bond was deduced from observed 3J(C,H) and 3J(H,H) values. The 13C nmr spectrum of carnosine in solution is also compared with that obtained for a solid sample.