Chromotography of Food Dye
Introduction:
Today in lab I will separate mixtures of compounds into their constituent components using chromatography paper and an eluting solvent of salt water as well as rubbing alcohol.
Materials and Methods:
In this lab using the bag of FD&C dyes, bag of M&M’s, 2 packs of Kool-Aid , and a pack of Clover Valley store brand food coloring I am going to place a drop of each dye at the bottom of the chromatography paper. For the experiment with the rubbing alcohol I also placed a drop of each dye, but used a paper coffee filter. In order to get the dye color extracted from the M&M’s and Kool-Aid I added a little additional water.
After applying all of the dyes and allowing them to dry completely I placed the chromatography paper in an eluting solvent of salt water, that I previously prepared and placed the coffee filters in the rubbing alcohol, paying careful attention to make sure that the area that the dye was placed on the paper was above the level of the solvent. I left the chromatography paper in the solvent until all the solvent had been absorbed, approximately 2 to 3 minutes I removed them from the solvent, marked the solvent line and set them aside to dry.
Measuring to the nearest millimeter I measured the distance from my original dye mark to the end of the dye stain and from my original dye mark to the end of solvent front. With a formula of Rf = dye distance / solvent distance the following are the results of my lab.
FD&C Food Color, Grape Kool-Aid, & Strawberry Kool-Aid in Salt Water
Color
B1
B2
R3
R40
Y5
Y6
UNK
KS
KG
Distance(mm)
3.2
0
.80
1.2
1.9
2.2
3.9
3.2
2.1
Solvent (mm)
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
Rf
.80
0
.20
.30
.48
.55
.98
.80
.53
Clover Valley Assorted Food Color and M&M’s in Salt Water
Color
R
Y
G
B
M&M G
M&M Y
M&M B
M&M R
Distance (mm)
3.3
2.7
3.1
4.1
2.4
1.2
2.1
2.3
Solvent (mm)
4.1
4.1
4.1
4.1
Today in lab I will separate mixtures of compounds into their constituent components using chromatography paper and an eluting solvent of salt water as well as rubbing alcohol.
Materials and Methods:
In this lab using the bag of FD&C dyes, bag of M&M’s, 2 packs of Kool-Aid , and a pack of Clover Valley store brand food coloring I am going to place a drop of each dye at the bottom of the chromatography paper. For the experiment with the rubbing alcohol I also placed a drop of each dye, but used a paper coffee filter. In order to get the dye color extracted from the M&M’s and Kool-Aid I added a little additional water.
After applying all of the dyes and allowing them to dry completely I placed the chromatography paper in an eluting solvent of salt water, that I previously prepared and placed the coffee filters in the rubbing alcohol, paying careful attention to make sure that the area that the dye was placed on the paper was above the level of the solvent. I left the chromatography paper in the solvent until all the solvent had been absorbed, approximately 2 to 3 minutes I removed them from the solvent, marked the solvent line and set them aside to dry.
Measuring to the nearest millimeter I measured the distance from my original dye mark to the end of the dye stain and from my original dye mark to the end of solvent front. With a formula of Rf = dye distance / solvent distance the following are the results of my lab.
FD&C Food Color, Grape Kool-Aid, & Strawberry Kool-Aid in Salt Water
Color
B1
B2
R3
R40
Y5
Y6
UNK
KS
KG
Distance(mm)
3.2
0
.80
1.2
1.9
2.2
3.9
3.2
2.1
Solvent (mm)
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
Rf
.80
0
.20
.30
.48
.55
.98
.80
.53
Clover Valley Assorted Food Color and M&M’s in Salt Water
Color
R
Y
G
B
M&M G
M&M Y
M&M B
M&M R
Distance (mm)
3.3
2.7
3.1
4.1
2.4
1.2
2.1
2.3
Solvent (mm)
4.1
4.1
4.1
4.1