Soluble samples only. Common solvents used in NMR are chloroform, water, methanol, DMSO, and acetone. Deuterated solvents are preferred.

Samples are placed in an external magnetic field and bombarded with RF energy. This causes magnetic moments to excite and align against the external field. Emission of the absorbed resonant frequency gives characteristic spectra used for interpretation of chemical structure.

Solution state NMR is used for determining the average structure of one molecule. It provides information on chemical structure and quantifiable amounts present in solution. This type of NMR can detect ppm levels of nuclei in solution.