Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) is similar to the more widely used technique of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) except that: (1) a magnetic field is not required, and (2) the NQR signal can only be observed in solids and only from selected nuclei. Recent advances in various branches of radiofrequency spectroscopy have made NQR imaging feasible in a few selected materials. More complex biologically significant compounds such as amino acids, polypeptides and proteins have yet to be studied. In this program, we propose to characterize the nitrogen NQR response of selected amino acid based materials. With this data, we will devise the most efficient schemes for nitrogen NQR bio-imaging of proteins and polypeptides in bio-materials.
