Polyalanine-based peptides were prepared by solid-phase peptide synthesis, labeled with (15)N at selected sites, reconstituted into oriented phosphatidylcholine bilayers, and investigated by proton-decoupled (15)N solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The anisotropic (15)N chemical shift is a direct indicator of helix alignment with respect to the membrane normal. The in-plane to transmembrane equilibrium is the focus of this study. Time- and solvent-dependent transmembrane alignments of K(3)A(18)K(3) have been obtained, and these are stabilized when a few alanine residues are replaced with leucine. The results are discussed in the context of a model where polyalanines adopt a variety of configurations, which are interconnected by multiple equilibria. The data indicate hydrophobicity values of alanine close to zero when studied in the context of helical polypeptides (> or =24 residues) and phospholipid bilayers.