Located at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, The Materials Characterization Center offers specialized services, on a fee basis, 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 strenghten 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.

Some typical applications of the MCC's facilities include: determination of the chemical structure of unknown compounds, identification of foreign materials, determination of the elemental composition, analysis and identification of impurities, characterization of Out-of-Specifications (OOS), trace compounds organic volatiles identification (OVI), particle size analysis, characterization of raw materials, identification of polymorphism in pharmaceutical solids, assays test (unexpected HPLC peaks) and characterization of chemical deposits on a surface, among others.