The proton and carbon NMR spectra of nine 2-substituted diphenyl sulphides (SZX), seven 3-substituted diphenyl sulphides (S-3-X), nine 2-substituted diphenyl sulphones (S02-2-X), nine hubstituted diphenyl sulphones (SO2-% X) and nine 4-substituted-2',6'-dimethyldiphenyl sulphides (Me2-S-4-X) were obtained. Correlations of the 'H and I3C chemical shifts were made with benzene substituent-induced chemical shifts (Lynch plots) and Hammett and dual-substituent parameters and the results were compared with those of 4-substituted diphenyl sulphides (S4-X) and sulphones (S02-4-X). The main conclusions are as follows: (i) the transmission of the substituent effects in substituted diphenyl sulphides decreases in the order S-4-X x S-2-X > Me,SQX > S-3-X; (ii) the inductive effects are transmitted to a larger extent than the resonance effects to the unsubstituted ring in Isubstituted diphenyl sulphides, while the reverse trend is observed in other substituted diphenyl sulphides; (iii) in 2-methoxy-, khloro-, 2-bromo-and 2-nitrodiphenyl sulphides, an increase in the size of the substituent causes an upfield shift for H d ascribable to the repulsion between the lone pairs of electrons on the sulphur and the substituent and its influence on the conformation; (iv) the diminished transmission of substituent effects to the remote rings in 4-substituted 2',6'-dimethyldiphenyl sulphides is probably due to the orthogonal orientation of the rings; and (v) the signal due to the H-6 of 2-substituted diphenyl sulphones suffers a downfield shift with an increase in the size of the substituent, this being ascribable to the increasing steric interaction between the 2-substituent and the sulphonyl oxygen and consequent changes in the conformation.