Thin Layer Chromatography: Applications and Advantages

1. Thin Layer
Chromatography:
Applications and
Advantages

2. Thin Layer Chromatography
Thin layer chromatography is a type of liquid
chromatography that is used to separate non-
volatile mixtures such as glycerin into its individual
components. The process is performed on a sheet of
glass, plastic, or aluminium foil coated with a thin
layer of adsorbent material like silica
gel, aluminium oxide (alumina), or cellulose
(known as the stationary phase).
However, TLC is utilized in many industries for
different purposes.

4. Applications of (TLC) are
Test the purity of the sample: Thin layer
chromatography helps to detect the purity of the
sample by direct comparison with the standard or
authentic sample. Any impurity in the sample shows
up as extra spots in chromatography.
Identify the components: Thin layer
chromatography can purify, isolate and identify the
natural products like volatile oil or essential oil, fixed
oil, waxes, terpenes, alkaloids, glycosides, steriods
etc. in the test samples.

5. Examination of reaction mixtures: When you
combine two or more substances and the resultant
combination shows a change in the structure or energy
content of the interacting entities, the final product is
called a reaction mixture. When such a mixture is
subjected to thin layer chromatography, it can tell
whether the reaction is complete or not and also check
other separation and purification processes
Biochemical analysis: Biochemical metabolites from
the body fluids, blood plasma, serum, urine etc. can be
isolated using thin layer chromatography.
In chemistry, TLC is used to separate and identify
closely related compounds or cations and anions in
inorganic chemistry.

6. Pharmaceutical industries utilize TLC technique
for qualitative analysis or detect impurities in
various medicines like hypnotics, sedatives,
anticonvulsants, tranquillisers, anti-histaminics,
analgesics, local anaesthetics, steroids, etc. Yet
another important application of TLC is to separate
multi-component pharmaceutical formulations into
its individual components.
In food and cosmetic industry: Any artificial
colour, preservatives, sweetening agent, and other
impurities in food and cosmetic products can be
detected and isolated by TLC technique.

7. Advantages of (TLC) are
It requires less equipment.
The separation of components is faster, thus,
saving time.
The technique is highly sensitive and gives
more accurate results.

8. The lower detection limit of analytical sample in
TLC is approximately one decimal lower than that
of paper chromatography. Further, TLC requires
very small quantities of a sample to analyse and
give results. This proves cost-effective for labs
facing scarcity of funds.
In TLC, you can spray corrosive agents to
identify the sample, but this is not possible in paper
chromatography as cellulose gets destroyed.
Adsorption, partition, and ion
exchange chromatography also utilize this
technique as wide range of adsorbents are
available.

9. The individual samples do not get diffused as in
paper chromatography.
TLC separates the sample into its individual
components. These components can be recovered
easily by scratching the powdery coating of the
plate. Moreover, quantitative separation of spots is
possible with TLC.
You can see and identify the individual
components by UV light as the inorganic
adsorbent background does not fluoresce.

11. To Know More
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