For almost a quarter of a century the words "nuclear magnetic reso nance" were synonymous with proton I, leasurements. During this period the literature abounded with a seemingly infinite variety of 1H NHR studies concerned primarily with carbon chemistry. Occasionally a "novel" nucleus was studied and, even in those early days, the poten- 13 14 31 19 tial offered by C, N, P and F was clearly recognized. Despite the allure, the technical difficulties involved in measuring some of these nuclei were far from trivial. Small magnetic moments and low natural abundance in combination with spin-spin...