Question

How can TLC be used to determine the best solvent or combination of solvents for a certain application?

Answer 1

TLC can be mostly used in the synthetic labs for monitoring the reactions. We have to use proper solvent or combination of solvents for the seperation.Normally TLC playes made by a layer of silica or alumina which serves as a stationary phase and the mobilephase we choose by oir choice or depending on the polority of the compounds we spotted on the TLC plate. Dependong on polority diiferent compounds will moove different distances on the plate. For example if we spotted polar compound we have to use

1. Methanol and DCM combination

2. Methanol and Chloroform

For non polar compounds

1. Ethylacetate in hexane

2.acetone - hexane

3. DCM- ethylacetate

4. Toluene