[en] Phosphorus-31 NMR spectroscopy is evolving into an important means for determining the in vivo concentrations of phosphorylated metabolites and is now entering the clinical arena. Our previous contributions to this field demonstrated the feasibility of employing implanted radio frequency coils around organs of laboratory animals to permit eliciting the NMR spectra over long periods to establish normative spectra. Using these devices and techniques we have determined phosphorus exchange reactions in rat hearts and kidney, in situ, and have demonstrated that there are pools of metabolic intermediates that are not directly visible in the conventional high resolution NMR spectra. Comparison of the results from NMR spectroscopy with those obtained from radiolabeling studies on chick embryo fibroblasts also showed that there are significant pools of phosphorus not visible in the P-31 NMR spectrum. Both sets of studies suggest that compartmentation occurs. The invisibility of these pools is assumed to result from the immobilization of the molecules by cellular macromolecules or organelles