Multi-microcoil Probes for Capillary Scale NMR Detection

DESCRIPTION (Provided by Applicant): The overall goal of this SBIR effort is to develop commercial small-scale high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy probes to increase throughput via the investigation of multiple samples in a single probe. NMR is utilized extensively by the pharmaceutical and biotecimology industries, but remains one of the very few analytical methods in which parallel data acquisition has not been applied to increase the number of samples that can be simultaneously evaluated. The reasons behind this are intrinsically related to the hardware involved in data acquisition. Recent academic results have shown that some of these limitations can be overcome by the use of small micro coils; Many design issues still remain to make such systems compatible with the narrow bore magnets that are predominant in industrial settings. These issues are addressed in this Phase I effort for purposes of feasibility assessment. This serves as the first step in MRM Corporation's plans to commercialize multi-coil probes. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The most immediate and obvious potential commercial application is pharmaceutical research, particularly drug discovery. NMR is used extensively in this application area for target analysis, metabolic studies, combinatorial chemistry, and for general structural elucidation. Other industries of application include biotechnology, chemical product research and development, and generally analytical chemical research (government laboratories, universities, etc.)