Thin Layer Chromatography Lab Report
Column and Thin Layer Chromatography
Beverly
Abstract: Plant pigments were separated and concentrated from a crude spinach extract through the use of column chromatography and an eluatropic series of hexanes, hexane/acetone, and methanol. The pigments were analyzed using thin layer chromatography with a 30% ethyl acetate/hexane developing solvent.
Introduction:
Chromatography is a technique used to separate a mixture of two or more components based on differences in their physical properties. It can be used as a method of purification (and can be used on a small scale) along with analyzation of mixtures. Chromatography exploits differences in the physical properties, such as boiling point and/or polarity, of components of a mixture in order to separate them between the mobile and stationary phases. A stationary phase is constantly washed with a mobile phase, and over time the added …show more content…
In spinach, carotenoids are the least polar pigment, since it is composed of pure hydrocarbon chains, and it therefore a non-polar compound (Koster, 2008). Carotenoids are a yellow/orange color, which was reflected in the pigment of our sample 1 concentrate (C1), however concentrate 1 did not create a visible spot on the TLC plate, so it is unclear whether or not carotenoids were present in concentrate 1. However, since concentrate 2 (C2) yielded 2 spots on the TLC plate, it is possible one of these spots was a carotenoid. In particular, spot 2 has the largest Rf value, indicating it was the least polar compound because it had the largest A value, traveling the farthest up the TLC plate with the non-polar developing solvent. It can be hypothesized, therefore, that spot 2 is a carotenoid pigment, lining up exactly with the S4 sample spot that had the largest Rf
Beverly
Abstract: Plant pigments were separated and concentrated from a crude spinach extract through the use of column chromatography and an eluatropic series of hexanes, hexane/acetone, and methanol. The pigments were analyzed using thin layer chromatography with a 30% ethyl acetate/hexane developing solvent.
Introduction:
Chromatography is a technique used to separate a mixture of two or more components based on differences in their physical properties. It can be used as a method of purification (and can be used on a small scale) along with analyzation of mixtures. Chromatography exploits differences in the physical properties, such as boiling point and/or polarity, of components of a mixture in order to separate them between the mobile and stationary phases. A stationary phase is constantly washed with a mobile phase, and over time the added …show more content…
In spinach, carotenoids are the least polar pigment, since it is composed of pure hydrocarbon chains, and it therefore a non-polar compound (Koster, 2008). Carotenoids are a yellow/orange color, which was reflected in the pigment of our sample 1 concentrate (C1), however concentrate 1 did not create a visible spot on the TLC plate, so it is unclear whether or not carotenoids were present in concentrate 1. However, since concentrate 2 (C2) yielded 2 spots on the TLC plate, it is possible one of these spots was a carotenoid. In particular, spot 2 has the largest Rf value, indicating it was the least polar compound because it had the largest A value, traveling the farthest up the TLC plate with the non-polar developing solvent. It can be hypothesized, therefore, that spot 2 is a carotenoid pigment, lining up exactly with the S4 sample spot that had the largest Rf