In 2001, the firm was acquired by MA based Protesis. The firm now operates as Magnetic Resonance Microsensors (MRM), an operating unit of Protasis Corporation, is the leading maker of capillary-based, microliter-volume probes for NMR spectroscopy. These new-to-market devices rely on microcoil technology and offer fast, sensitive performance and downscaled sample handling capability. Founded by an interdisciplinary group of chemists, NMR spectroscopists and engineers from the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, MRM was formed expressly to develop and bring to market microcoil (sub-microliter volume) NMR detection technology. MRM has focused its research efforts on developing a family of specialized microcoil-based probes designed specifically for compatibility with the Waters CapLC. As a result, MRM probes now offer a 10-fold sensitivity gain when compared to conventional NMR probes and present exciting new opportunities for NMR application to capillary-based analytical systems. NMR analysis is rapidly growing as an information-rich technique for determining structural information for synthetic and natural product chemistry research. Yet, a recurring problem that restricts the versatility of this technology is the difficulties associated with effective, automated management of the sample. To the satisfaction of a growing list of customers, MRM has solved this problem by purifying and concentrating sample peaks using Waters CapLC and then parking them in sensitive, flexible and convenient MRM CapNMR Probes. MRM's mission is the commercialization of microcoil (sub-microliter volume) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) detection technology developed in the Beckman Institute and patented by the University of Illinois. This technology enables at very small scales (sub-microliter volumes) the characterization and identification of chemical compounds. This process is of high interest to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical products companies, for research and development, manufacture, and quality control.
