Sensitivity of nuclear-quadrupole double-resonance detection of half-integer spin nuclei

The sensitivity of the Slusher and Hahn's nuclear quadrupole double resonance technique is calculated in general for an arbitrary nuclear spin S of the quadrupole nuclei and for an arbitrary asymmetry parameter η of the electric field gradient tensor. The nuclear spin S = 5/2 (17O, 25Mg, …) is treated in details. The influence of the cross-relaxation rate between the quadrupole nuclei and the abundant spin system on the sensitivity of double resonance is discussed. The results of the theoretical analysis are applied in the analysis of the 1H-17O nuclear quadrupole double resonance spectra in p-toluenesulfonamide and 2-nitrobenzoic acid. The 17O nuclear quadrupole resonance frequencies from a sulfonamide group are determined for the first time. The proton-oxygen cross-relaxation rates and the proton local frequency in zero external magnetic field are experimentally determined from the nuclear quadrupole double resonance spectra.