Micromolar to Nanomolar Converter

µM

Common Conversions

µM	nM
0.0001	0.1
0.0005	0.5
0.001	1
0.005	5
0.01	10
0.05	50
0.1	100
0.25	250
0.5	500
1	1000
5	5000
10	10000

Why this conversion matters in chemistry

Going from µM to nM is almost always a potency comparison in disguise. You have a working concentration in µM — the thing you added to the plate — and a published binding constant in nM — the thing you're comparing against. Multiplying the working concentration by 1000 to land in nM is how you answer the practical question: is this dose 10× my Kd, 100×, or off by three orders of magnitude? A 1 µM dose against a 5 nM binder means you're 200-fold over Kd, which is usually saturating. The arithmetic is the easy part. The translation matters more.

Formula

nM = µM × 1000

Worked Examples

0.5 µM = 500 nM

A mid-range Ki written two different ways. Whichever unit a paper uses tends to reflect the author's native field as much as anything.

0.001 µM = 1 nM

A tight binder. At this affinity most of the compound sits on the target rather than floating around in the buffer.

1 µM = 1000 nM

Common top dose on a screening plate — weak enough that a hit isn't guaranteed, strong enough that a real binder should show up.

0.01 µM = 10 nM

Roughly the working concentration for a lot of hormones and growth factors in cell culture — active, but not so much that you're fighting receptor saturation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert micromolar to nanomolar?

Multiply by 1000. 5 µM × 1000 lands at 5000 nM, and 0.5 µM at 500 nM. The prefixes are three orders of magnitude apart (10⁻⁶ vs 10⁻⁹), so a micromolar solution is a thousand times more concentrated than a nanomolar one.

What does sub-µM potency actually mean for a drug candidate?

A compound that hits its target below 1 µM — so anywhere in the nM range — is usually considered promising enough to keep working on. Single-digit nanomolar is where most optimized small-molecule leads end up. Picomolar is reserved for the really tight stuff: some biologics, selected kinase inhibitors, a handful of natural products.

Which numbers naturally live in nM vs µM?

Nanomolar is where binding affinities, hormone concentrations, and trace analytes tend to sit. Micromolar is where enzyme Km values, screening doses, and metal ion concentrations in biological systems end up. The two ranges overlap a lot in drug discovery, which is exactly why this conversion gets used so often.