17O n.m.r. studies of amino acids in the solid state,in single- and polycrystalline forms

A single crystal of ¹⁷O enriched α-glycine was grown by slow evaporation of aqueous solution. ¹⁷O n.m.r. studies of the α-glycine molecule in single crystalline form revealed five ¹⁷O transitions each consisting of two lines due to inequivalency of the oxygen atoms in the unit cell, with each of these lines revealing a dipolar interaction between the ¹⁷O and the nearest hydrogen atom. The spectral width was found to be of the order of magnitude of MHz and the linewidths of the order of magnitude of 2 kHz.