Squid-Nqr of N-14 in Amino-Acids and Small Peptides

We present a technique for the study of nuclear quadrupole resonance of N-14 interacting with low electric field gradients as found, for example, in amino acids. A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is used to detect directly small NMR signals via cross relaxation of the N-14 polarization to adjacent proton spins, eliminating the need for field cycling. When one nitrogen quadrupolar transition matches the proton Zeeman splitting, the remaining two quadrupolar transitions can be observed by sweeping a saturating rf field through resonance. In addition, signal enhancement by simultaneous excitation of two nitro n resonances helps to identify connected transitions.