Characterization of liquefied products (oil and asphaltene) of Pakistani coal was performed using H-1 and C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry. It was noticed that bands corresponding to aliphatic protons and carbons were sharp and well pronounced in all the profiles. Peaks corresponding to aromatic hydrogens and carbons were featureless, which is suggestive of the presence of configurations like aliphatic carbon chains and some alkyl substituents and absence of configurations like hydro-aromatics, biphenyls, phenanthrene and anthracene in both of these extracts. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.