Question

What effect would using a more polar mobile phase in column chromatography have? How would the purity of acetylferrocene be affected by starting with a mobile phase of ethyl acetate instead of hexane?

Answer 1

Using more polar solvent at starting as a mobile phase is not recommended as all compounds will come out at one instance. First start with non-polar solvent then gradually increase the percentage of polar solvent with mixture of solvent. I mean use 2% or 5% or 7% or 10% sequentially to sorting out the impurities first. Then only you will get pure compound.

It is highly recommended to first determine the solvent mixture where we can get our compound in a pure state by running a series of TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography) on a silica based plate then fix the solvent mixture. This is a best practice always to go for final column chromatography.

Your Question;

What effect would using a more polar mobile phase in column chromatography have? How would the purity of acetylferrocene be affected by starting with a mobile phase of ethyl acetate instead of hexane?

Answer: Yes the purity will be very less if you start with a more polar mobile phase.

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