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Step 7Some final notes on preparing the plates
These plates can be used like any other, though generally home-made plates have a more brittle stationary phase so be gentle. Tweezers are a good investment, and wield the "science tongs" carefully for with great power comes great responsibility.
I've heard that some silica gel desiccant packets contain fungicides and other chemical dopants, they may interfere with the operation of your plates. I have absolutely no advice on how to deal with this besides, perhaps, cleaning the silica powder before hand with a non-polar solvent. I did not have this problem and the plates I made from the desiccant packets worked the same as ones I made from lab grade silica gel (for chromatography, oooh).
Other stationary phases can be used as well, alumina for example. In this case slightly less water can be used, about 1.5:1 ratio instead of 2:1 as alumina does not absorb as much water as silica (and you want to maintain the consistency of the suspension). Cellulose can also be used, though I haven't experimented with it, I hear that you don't need to use a binder as cellulose is sticky enough on its own. You can, of course, experiment with your own stationary phases. There is a lot of literature out there, ripe for the googling.
The following steps describe a simple experiment to show how TLC works by way of separating plant pigments. Pigments are chosen as they are clearly visible against the white backdrop of the plate do not need to be further developed by UV or Iodine to be seen.
I've heard that some silica gel desiccant packets contain fungicides and other chemical dopants, they may interfere with the operation of your plates. I have absolutely no advice on how to deal with this besides, perhaps, cleaning the silica powder before hand with a non-polar solvent. I did not have this problem and the plates I made from the desiccant packets worked the same as ones I made from lab grade silica gel (for chromatography, oooh).
Other stationary phases can be used as well, alumina for example. In this case slightly less water can be used, about 1.5:1 ratio instead of 2:1 as alumina does not absorb as much water as silica (and you want to maintain the consistency of the suspension). Cellulose can also be used, though I haven't experimented with it, I hear that you don't need to use a binder as cellulose is sticky enough on its own. You can, of course, experiment with your own stationary phases. There is a lot of literature out there, ripe for the googling.
The following steps describe a simple experiment to show how TLC works by way of separating plant pigments. Pigments are chosen as they are clearly visible against the white backdrop of the plate do not need to be further developed by UV or Iodine to be seen.
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