Chromatographic techniques Flashcards
What are the 6 different types of chromatography?
- Column Chromatography
- Thin Layer Chromatography
- Gel Filtration (Size Exclusion)
- Ion Exchange
- High Pressure Liquid Chromatography
- Gas Chromatography
Less well used: Paper & Affinity chromatography
What are the common features of all chromatography?
- All have a stationary phase (a solid, or a liquid supported on a solid) and a mobile phase (a liquid or a gas).
- The mobile phase flows through the stationary phase and carries the components of the mixture with it.
- Different components travel at different rates dependent on their attraction to the mobile phase and the stationary phase
What is column chromatography?
Column either loaded dry and filled with the mobile phase, which is then flushed through the column, or, more usually, loaded with a slurry of stationary and mobile phase together (care taken to avoid bubbles)
What stationary phases are used in column chrom?
• Silica Gel (most common) o Typically 40-63 μm particle size o Granular & porous o high surface area (around 800 m²/g) • Alumina (less common) o Typically 50-200 μm particle size
What are the 5 steps in column chromatography?
1) Load Stationary Phase material to column
2) Equilibrate Column Stationary Phase with Mobile Phase
3) Load sample in as small a volume as possible
4) Add more Mobile Phase to column
5) Collect sample fractions from column
What substances will separate first?
Non-polar
What affects solvent flow?
Particle size affects solvent flow. Smaller particles (higher mesh values) need a pump to flow the mobile phase
70–230 silica gel for gravity columns & 230–400 mesh for flash columns
What is elution?
The separation (development) of the organic classes. With increasing polarity, the slower they move
How are components of interest determined?
by methods such as colour, TLC ,Ultraviolet , fluorometry etc
- Column can then be washed with eluting solvent and reused or discarded
- Used in the laboratory and industry to separate and purify compounds on a preparative scale from mg to kg
What is Thin Layer Chromatography? (TLC)
Stationary phase: usually silica, but aluminium and cellulose sometimes used
Mobile phase: Single solvent or mixture
Driving force: Mobile phase moves through stationary phase by capillary action
Affinity: polarity
Same principle as column chromatography using silica but on a smaller scale (thin layer)
What does separation depend on in TLC?
Separation depends on polarity of solute and solvent and stationary phase
Describe what happens as the mobile phase moves up the plate
As the mobile phase (solvent) moves up the plate, each component is carried at a different rate.
When the solvent reaches the top end of the plate, the plate is removed from the beaker and the solvent allowed to evaporate
What allows for the components to be seen as dark spots?
The plates are treated with fluorescing agent so show up as dark spots under UV light - this can help to detect components which are colourless
What are 5 different ways of developing spots?
- UV light (indirect): If analyte absorbs UV, gives dark spot on yellow/green background
- Iodine vapour: Reversibly produces brown spots with many organic compounds, spraying with starch makes permanent
- Potassium permanganate: used for detection of sugars and sugar-like molecules
- Ninhydrin: gives purple/pink spot with amines, used for gentamycin
- Alkaline tetrazolium: Blue spots with corticosteroids
What are Rf values?
Measure the distances from the starting point to the solvent front and from the starting point to the centre of each spot, to calculate the Rf values
High Rf = less polar