The (17)O nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) frequencies have been measured in phenylphosphinic acid and phenylphosphonic acid using nuclear quadrupole double resonance. The quadrupole coupling constants have been determined with an uncertainty of +/- 10 kHz and the asymmetry parameter eta with an uncertainty of +/- 0.01. The results are compared to the published results of the theoretical calculation and the high-field solid-state NMR measurements. The position of hydrogen in the O-H...O hydrogen bond in phenylphosphinic acid has also been determined. On the basis of the present and the previously published data we show that the principal values of the electric-field-gradient tensor in P = O and P-O-H bonds correlate. A correlation between the nuclear quadrupole parameters and the length of the P-O bond is also observed.Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
