Abstract: Multidimensional acquisitions play a central role in the progress and in the applications of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Such experiments have traditionally been collected as an array of one-dimensional scans, with suitably-incremented delay parameters that encode along independent temporal domains the nD spectral distribution being sought. During the last years we have introduced and exemplified an "ultrafast" approach to nD NMR, capable of delivering any type of multidimensional spectrum in a single transient. This method operates by departing from the canonical nD NMR scheme, and replacing its temporal encoding by a series of MRI-derived spatial manipulations. The present survey introduces the main principles of this sub-second approach to spectroscopy, focusing on the applications that have hitherto been demonstrated for single-scan 2D NMR in different areas of Chemistry.