In drawing up the specifications for a standard for multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) it became clear that the spectroscopic data content needed to be qualified by experimental condition information especially pertaining to the pulse sequences used to obtain the free induced decays or spectra. Failure to include this information not only severely inhibits the ability of subsequent data handling packages to work with the experimental data, but also makes interpretation of the final results virtually impossible.This paper has been produced in collaboration with the NMR spectrometer manufacturers in an attempt to get agreement on a definitive list of the most frequently used pulse sequence programs. The list includes entries where common agreement has been reached as to the acronym to name the experiment and the key instrument independent parameters needed to report concisely. It is not intended to restrict in any way the freedom of manufacturers or users to develop new and novel experimental pulse sequences, but should aid reporting of experimental data where the more common sequences are in use.
