Thin-layer chromatography stationary-phase

Thin-Layer Chromatography Stationary phase Metal Chelates Poly(saccharide) Derivatives... 

TLC is a good technique to use when normal-phase solvents provide optimum separation. Typical thin-layer separations are performed on glass plates that are coated with a thin layer of stationary phase. The stationary phases used in TLC encompass all modes of chromatography including adsorption, normal- and reverse-phase, ion-exchange, and size-exclusion." The equipment required is simple and inexpensive. TLC is an ideal technique for the isolation of compounds because of its simplicity. However, for TLC to be successful, the impurity and/or degradant level should be at or above 1%. Any component present below this level is very difficult to isolate on a TLC plate because of higher detection limits. 

Thin-layer chromatography (TLQ is closely related to column chromatography, in that the phases used in both techniques are essentially identical. Alumina and siHca gel are typical stationary phases, and the usual solvents are the mobile phases. There are, however, some distinct differences between TLC and column chromatography. The mobile (liquid) phase descends in column chromatography the mobile phase ascends in TLC. The column of stationary-phase material used in column chromatography is replaced by a thin layer (100 (xm) of stationary phase spread over a flat surface. A piece of window glass, a miCTOscope sUde, or a sheet of plastic can be used as the support for the thin layer of stationary phase. It is possible to prepare your own glass plates, but plastic-backed thin-layer plates are only commercially available. Plastic-backed plates are particularly attractive because they can easily be cut with scissors into strips of any size. Typical strips measure about 1X3 in., but even smaller strips can be satisfactory. 

Thin-Layer Chromatography. Chiral stationary phases have been used less extensively in tic as in high performance Hquid chromatography (hplc). This may, in large part, be due to lack of avakabiHty. The cost of many chiral selectors, as well as the accessibiHty and success of chiral additives, may have inhibited widespread commerciali2ation. Usually, nondestmctive visuali2ation of the sample spots in tic is accompHshed using iodine vapor, uv or fluorescence. However, the presence of the chiral selector in the stationary phase can mask the analyte and interfere with detection (43). 

Gas chromatography (gc) is inferior to hplc in separating abiUty. With gc, it is better to use capillary columns and the appHcation is then limited to analysis (67). Resolution by thin layer chromatography or dc is similar to Ic, and chiral stationary phases developed for Ic can be used. However, tic has not been studied as extensively as Ic and gc. Chiral plates for analysis and preparation of micro quantities have been developed (68). 

An important publication by Kost et al. (63JGU525) on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) of pyrazoles contains a large collection of Rf values for 1 1 mixtures of petroleum ether-chloroform or benzene-chloroform as eluents and alumina as stationary phase. 1,3- and 1,5-disubstituted pyrazoles can be separated and identified by TLC (Rf l,3>i y 1,5). For another publication by the same authors on the chromatographic separation of the aminopyrazoles, see (63JGU2519). A-Unsubstituted pyrazoles move with difficulty and it is necessary to add acetone or methanol to the eluent mixture. Other convenient conditions for AH pyrazoles utilize silica gel and ethyl acetate saturated with water (a pentacyanoamine ferroate ammonium disodium salt solution can be used to visualize the pyrazoles). 

Tswett s initial column liquid chromatography method was developed, tested, and applied in two parallel modes, liquid-solid adsorption and liquid-liquid partition. Adsorption ehromatography, based on a purely physical principle of adsorption, eonsiderably outperformed its partition counterpart with mechanically coated stationary phases to become the most important liquid chromatographic method. This remains true today in thin-layer chromatography (TLC), for which silica gel is by far the major stationary phase. In column chromatography, however, reversed-phase liquid ehromatography using chemically bonded stationary phases is the most popular method. 

Not only in HPLC, but also in modem thin-layer chromatography, the application of reversed-phase stationary phases becomes increasingly important. The advantage of the hydrophobic layers in comparison with the polar, surface-active stationary phases is the additional selectivity and a reduced hkehhood of decomposition of sensitive substances. 

FIGURE 12.3 Particle sizes and particle size distribution of silica stationary phases for planar chromatography. (From Nyiredy, S., Preparative layer chromatography, in Handbook of Thin Layer Chromatography, 3rd ed., Vol. 89, Sherma, J. and Fried, B., lids., Marcel Dekker, New York, 2003, pp. 99-133. With permission.)... 

Although the interest in, and application of layer chromatography has historically resulted from the development of PC, it was soon replaced by thin-layer chromatography (TLC). In PC, only one stationary phase matrix is available (cellulose), at variance to TLC (silica, polyamide, ion-exchange resins, cellulose). Using a silica-gel plate, separation of a sample can be accomplished in approximately 1 h as compared with many hours on paper. The plate size is much smaller than the necessary paper size. Also, more samples can be spotted... 

TLC plates are of particular interest as substrates for spectroscopy (i) as a storage device for offline spectroscopic analysis (ii) for efficient in situ detection and identification and (iii) for exploitation of spectroscopic techniques that cannot be used in HPLC. Thin-layer chromatography combined with HR MAS (NMR) can be used for compound identification without the need for elution from the stationary phase [413]. Recently also TLC-XRF was found suitable for in situ TLC imaging of elements [414]. The combination... 

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