Carbon-13 chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) tensors for various carbon sites of polypeptides, and for carbon sites in alpha -helical and beta -sheet conformations of poly-L-alanine, and polyglycine, are presented. The carbonyl C-13 CSA tensors were determined from one-dimensional CPMAS spectra obtained at a slow spinning speed, whereas the CSA tensors of C-alpha and other carbons in side chains of peptides were determined using 2D PASS experiments on powder samples. The results suggest that the spans of (13)Carbonyl CSA tensors of alanine and glycine residues in various peptides are similar, even though the magnitude of individual components of the CSA tensor and the isotropic chemical shift are different. In addition, the delta (22) element is the only component of the (13)Carbonyl CSA tensor that significantly depends on the CO . . . HN hydrogen-bond length. Solid-state NMR experimental results also suggest that (13)Carbonyl and C-13(alpha) CSA tensors are similar for alpha -helical and beta -sheet conformations of poly-L-alanine, which is in agreement with the reported quantum chemical calculation studies and previous solid-state NMR experimental studies on other systems. On the other hand, the C-13(alpha) CSA tensor of the first alanine residue is entirely different from that of the second or later alanine residues of the peptide. While no clear trends in terms of the span and the anisotropic parameter were predicted for C-13(beta) CSA tensors of alanine, they mainly depend on the conformation and dynamics of the side chain as well as on the packing interactions in the solid state of peptides.