Instrumentation thin layer chromatography

V.G. Berezkin and A.S. Bochkov, Quantitative Thin-Layer Chromatography Instrumental Methods, Nauka, Moscow (1980). 

Recent developments in the practice of thin-layer chromatography have resulted in a breakthrough in performance which has led to the expression high performance thin-layer chromatography . These developments have not been the result of any specific advance in instrumentation (as with HPLC), but rather the culmination of improvements in the various operations involved in TLC. The three chief features of HPTLC are summarised below, but for a comprehensive account of the subject the reader is recommended to consult a more specialised text.59... 

Figures 2 through 9 are infrared spectra of fractions collected from partition columns, gas chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, or a combination of these separation techniques. Figure 10 is the infrared spectrum of a compound isolated by gas chromatography after hydrolysis of a pyrethrum concentrate. In this case the compound is a long-chain ester. All the infrared spectra were made with a Perkin-Elmer Model 221 instrument. The following operating parameters were used. A liquid demountable cell with a 0.01-mm path length was employed.

Fig. 2 The steps in the process of thin-layer chromatography that have been instrumentalized and automated to a large degree in the recent past. PMD = Programmed Multiple Development, AMD = Automated Multiple Development, DC-Mat or ADC = Automatic Development Chamber.

The on-line principle has also been extended into the field of detection (Fig. 8). Thus, it is now possible to record FTIR [27-31] and Raman spectra in situ [32, 33], and there have been considerable advances in the on-line coupling of thin-layer chromatography with mass spectrometry. Here it has been, above all, the research groups of Wilson [34-36] and Busch [37-40] that have made the necessary instrumental and methodological advances, so that TLC must no longer be viewed as merely a clean-up method. Rather it forms the essential central point for all these on-line coupling techniques. 

The reason for this lies not least in the increasing instrumentalization and delibei automation of all those processes which were earlier particularly subject to eri (Fig. 2). Modem high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) is no Ion inferior to other liquid chromatographic techniques with respect to precision and s sitivity (Fig. 3) [6]. 

All previous discussion has focused on sample preparation, i.e., removal of the targeted analyte(s) from the sample matrix, isolation of the analyte(s) from other co-extracted, undesirable sample components, and transfer of the analytes into a solvent suitable for final analysis. Over the years, numerous types of analytical instruments have been employed for this final analysis step as noted in the preceding text and Tables 3 and 4. Overall, GC and LC are the most often used analytical techniques, and modern GC and LC instrumentation coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) detection systems are currently the analytical techniques of choice. Methods relying on spectrophotometric detection and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) are now rarely employed, except perhaps for qualitative purposes. 

Principles and Characteristics High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), also known as planar chromatography, is an analytical technique with separation power and reproducibility superior to conventional TLC, which was first used in 1938 [7] and modified in 1958 [8]. HPTLC is based on the use of precoated TLC plates with small particle sizes (3-5 xm) and precise instruments for each step of the chromatographic process. 

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