17O and23Na nuclear quadrupole double resonance of sodium formate and sodium acetate

The17O and23Na nuclear quadrupole resonance spectra of powdered sodium formate and sodium acetate have been determined at room temperature by proton-17O and proton-23Na double resonance. All17O sites have been found to be chemically equivalent. The nonzero value of the asymmetry parameter of the electric field gradient tensor at the17O site shows that the electron density distribution is not cylindrically symmetric around the C−O bond axis.