A new NMR data standard for the exchange and archiving for multi-dimensional data sets

With multi-dimensional spectroscopic techniques playing an ever increasing role in the life of an NMR spectroscopist it didn't take long for the need for a new NMR data exchange standard for multi-dimensional data sets to arise. This requirement was formally established last year at the Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Conference (ENC) in Asilomar, USA. An international task group was set up to develop this data exchange standard for multi-dimensional NMR experiments and is currently working under the auspices of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists (IUPAC). This article describes how the process began, how the need for a new data exchange standard was established, and when we can expect to be able to make use of implementations in our software updates.