Founded in 1995 by the Faculty of Natural Sciences of University of Puerto Rico in consortium with INDUNIV, with the support from Puerto Rico’s Government (grant by Science and Technology Fund) and manage by Puerto Rico Industrial and Economic Development Company (PRIDCO). Located at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (UPR-RP) and the Molecular Science Research Building (MSRB), The Materials Characterization Center Inc. operates as a private business. MCC offers specialized services in the area of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) , Mass Spectrometry, Surface Microscopy and Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, Confocal Imaging Microscopy, Nanoscopy, Functional Genomics Research Center, Sequencing and Genotyping to clients from industry, government and the academic community.

In offering these services, on a fee basis, which are not available elsewhere in Puerto Rico, the MCC seeks to strengthen industrial activity by providing expeditious and reliable solutions to problems faced by manufacturing operations that would otherwise require lengthy referrals to off-island R&D centers. It also seeks to reinforce the academic offerings of the public and private universities by making available to scholars and students services and facilities not available at any other institution. In this manner, the MCC also promotes closer interaction between industry and academia for their mutual benefit.

MCC strengthens the relationship between industry and academia and thereby enhances the environment for scientific research and development in Puerto Rico, by providing state-of- the-art analytical services and scientific expertise, not readily available through commercial laboratories, to clients in industry, academia, and government.

The systems available:

• Ti-E inverted microscopes with A1R confocal
• FN1 upright microscope with a Coherent Chameleon multiphoton laser and A1R MP confocal unit
• DS-Fi1c cooled Camera with 5.24 megapixels
• All these microscopes allow confocal acquisition with 4 different lasers (405λ, 488λ, 561λ and 640λ).
• Spectra channels are also available for emission fingerprinting.
• The addition of resonance scanning provides the capacity of high speed image capture (range from 30 fps up to 420 fps)
• Can be used for hybrid scanning using both scanners in tandem. In this mode, the high resolution scanner can be used for photoactivation or photobleaching followed by high speed imaging with resonant scanner.
• The MP Chameleon Vision is a Verdi pump laser that provides a wide range of excitation from 680 nm to 1080 nm. At 40 nm/s, it has the fastest tuning speed on the market. This provides the greatest flexibility for a wide choice of fluorophores.

The NMR Lab. includes 4 NMR spectrometers:

• Bruker Avance DPX-300 with multinuclear and variable temperature capability used for routine samples.
• Bruker Avance AV-500 with multinuclear capabilities equipped with a broadband auto tunable probe with gradients.
• Bruker Ascend Aeon 700 with multinuclear, variable temperature and cross polarization magnetic angle spinning.
• Bruker Ascend Aeon 500 with Ultra Shield Aeon Magnet, which eliminates liquid nitrogen from magnet and minimizes helium refills to small volume top-off every 1-2 years. It is equipped with a Prodigy cryoprobe PH5010, an ultra-high sensitivity Multinuclear (5mm sample diameter), including high sensitivity 2H lock channel. It is ideally suited for research applications in chemistry demanding highest sensitivity for X nuclei with 1H decoupling as well as excellent 1H or 19F observe sensitivity. The broadband channel covers a wide range of nuclei from 31P to 15N. Standard temperature range: -40° to 80°C.

The surface microscopy equipment includes:

• JEOL 6480LV scanning electron microscopes (SEM) with low vacuum and X-ray fluorescence (EDAX) capabilities
• Digital Instrument Nanoscope IIIA Atomic Force (AFM)
• Scanning Tunneling (STM) Microscopes
• PHI Physical Electronics 5600 ESCA System
• Nicolet IS 50 FT-IR Spectrometer and Continuum IR Microscope
• Thermo Scientific DXR Raman Imaging Microscope
• Bruker Tensor 27 and Helios attenuated total Reflectance Spectrometer
• Bruker Lumus Microscope