Dr. M. Vibin Biochemistry St.Albert’s College THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Used to identify the unknown compounds and to determine the purity of mixture.

is performed on a sheet of glass, plastic, or aluminium foil stationary phase- silica gel, aluminium oxide, or cellulose solvent or solvent mixture (known as the mobile phase)

RETENTION FACTOR : R ƒ = Distance travelled by a Solute Distance travelled by a Solvent R ƒ = zero, Solute remains in the stationary phase and thus it is immobile. R ƒ = 1 Solute has no affinity for the stationary phase and travels with the solvent front. Principle Separation of compounds is based on the competition of the solute and the mobile phase for binding places on the stationary phase

Application: 1. Purity of any sample 2.Identification of compounds Eg. volatile oil or essential oil, fixed oil, waxes, terpenes etc 3. Examination of reactions to access whether the reaction is complete or not. 4. Biochemical analysis Eg. body fluids, blood plasma, serum, urine etc.

5. In chemistry used for identification of cations and anions in inorganic chemistry. 6. In pharmaceutical industry detection of impurity in parmacopoeial chemical. separation of multicomponent pharmaceutical formulations. 7. In food and cosmetic industry separation and identification of colours, preservatives, sweetening agent etc