C-13 chemical shifts of alkynes, published to date, were computed at the DFT (B3LYP/6-311G*) level of theory and compared with the experimental delta values, and the agreement was employed as a measure of quality for the underlying structures. For the corresponding global minima structures, thus obtained, the occupation quotients of antibonding pi* and bonding pi orbitals (pi*(C C)/pi(C C)) and the bond lengths (d(C C)) of the central C C triple bond were computed and correlated to each other. The linear dependence obtained for the two push-pull parameters d(C C) and pi*(C C)/pi(C C) quantifies changes in the push-pull effect of substituents while deviations from the best line of fit indicate and ascertain quantitatively to what extend the inductive (+/-l) substituent effect changes with respect to the bond length of the C C triple bond.