One of its applications is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which is useful in therapeutic and pathological studies of diseases like cancer. “At present, students have to go to private research laboratories such as Alembic to do the tests, but if the budget is approved by the DoST, it will be helpful to the researchers and students here,” said Professor Surekha Devi, head of chemistry department.

The department already has students working on researches to find various drug combinations for cancer. According to faculty member Amar Ballabh, the device is an important tool to study various drug combinations and therapy that involves delicate compounds. “MRI is a breakthrough in the field of medicine and it is one of the applications of NMR,” said Ballabh, adding that the device would cost something between Rs 1 and 2 crore.

However, once it is installed, it would cut down the research cost, as the NMR follows a non-destructive method of testing. According to Devi, NMR saves a lot of cost as it studies the chemical samples without altering the molecular structure of the compounds. Such samples, like nucleic acids, considered very expensive, can be studied for months.

“Radio waves and static magnetic field created by NMR can penetrate through many types of matter, except for the ferrous or iron-based compounds,” said Devi. NMR can also be used to study sensitive, or in some cases, dangerous chemical concoctions.

Pointing out that installing NMR is not an easy task, she said, “It needs high maintenance and once it is approved, a special room with AC has to be constructed in the premises to keep the device safely.”