Heteronuclear 2-dimensional NMR was used to correlate the 1H and 31P chem. shifts of cellular phosphates. Exptl. spectra agree with theor. predictions based on a novel approach using subspectral anal. The spectra are sensitive to the homonuclear scalar couplings between the protons as well as the heteronuclear 1H-31P coupling. Thus, the 2-dimensional spectra provide information about the conformation of cellular phosphates. Since 1H signals are only obsd. from those protons located in the vicinity of the phosphate groups, the signals are referred to as local-proton spectra. [on SciFinder (R)]