Nitrohumic acids, produced from base extraction of coals and peats oxidized with nitric acid, have received considerable attention as soil ammendments in agriculture. The nitration chemistry however is incompletely understood. Moreover, there is a need to understand the reaction of nitric acid with natural organic matter (NOM) in general, in the context of a variety of environmental and biogeochemical processes. Suwannee River NOM, Suwannee River fulvic acid, and Pahokee Peat fulvic acid were treated with ¹⁵N-labeled nitric acid at concentrations ranging from 15% to 22% and analyzed by liquid and solid state ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. Bulk Pahokee peat and Illinois #6 coal were also treated with nitric acid, at 29% and 40% respectively, and analyzed by solid state ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. In addition to nitro groups from nitration of aromatic carbon, the ¹⁵N NMR spectra of all five samples exhibited peaks attributable to nitrosation reactions. These include nitrosophenol peaks in the peat fulvic acid and Suwannee River samples, from nitrosation of phenolic rings, and N-nitroso groups in the peat samples, from nitrosation of secondary amides or amines, the latter consistent with the peat samples having the highest naturally abundant nitrogen contents. Peaks attributable to Beckmann and secondary reactions of the initially formed oximes were present in all spectra, including primary amide, secondary amide, lactam, and nitrile nitrogens. The degree of secondary reaction product formation resulting from nitrosation reactions appeared to correlate inversely with the ¹³C aromaticities of the samples. The nitrosation reactions are most plausibly effected by nitrous acid formed from the reduction of nitric acid by oxidizable substrates in the NOM and coal samples.