The average conformations of adenosine, inosine and guanosine di- and triphosphates in neutral aqueous solution have been investigated by 1H vicinal couplings, chemical shifts and T1 relaxation time measurements at 250 MHz. Comparison of chemical shifts with those of the corresponding nucleotide monophosphates suggests that the beta-phosphate group is in all cases oriented towards the base and close to H3'. The vicinal coupling constants indicate that the proportion of the S conformer of the ribose moiety is 55--60% and that the gauche-gauche rotamer of the CH2-OP exocyclic group is predominant. The preferential orientations of the base have been determined by minimization of the standard deviation about the mean of the molecular reorientation correlation times derived from the H8, H1', H2' and H3' relaxation times and computed interproton distances. The problem of the correlation between the syn-anti equilibrium and the N equilibrium S interconversion has been examined. Typical magnetization recovery curves after a 180 degree pulse have been simulated in the case of ATP, taking into account cross relaxation effects. It is shown that in most of the molecules under consideration the syn orientation of the base is predominant whereas for ATP the syn and anti are equivalent.