Thin Layer Chromatography

Thin Layer Chromatography is a process that is used to separate various components of a mixture for analyzing the different components. It is mainly used to identify the number of components in a mixture, to know their purity and other important elements. The method is actually a sensitive technique and it may take a time period of almost 5 minutes to 10 minutes. The method consists of three important steps and these steps are spotting, development and then visualization respectively.

First the mixture is mixed with a little amount of a volatile liquid and then it is dropped on a glass plate where a desiccant such as silica gel is placed in the form of thin layer coating. The volatile liquid evaporates and leaves a spot and hence the process of spotting is completed. Now the glass plate that is also known as the TLC plate is immersed in a development solvent. A number of changes may take place and this may also included the shifting of the spot mark, this is later marked by a pencil. There can be various compounds without color and thus visualization step is required in which the plate is touched with a fluorescent material so that the spot is clearly visible.

There are a number of places where the method of thin layer chromatography can be used such as industries of traditional medicines, biological activities and plant biotechnology.