PAPER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Objectives : Separate the coloured components present in the inks by paper chromatrography and find
their Rf values.

1. Separation of color components in the inks

Material :
Test tubes, aquadest, ethanol, ink, filter paper or CD paper, pencil, scale, pipette, graduated cylinder.

Procedur :
 Take a strip of paper and using a pencil draw a horizontal line 4 cm from one end of the paper.
Then draw another line vertically from the centre of the paper. Name the point at which the two
lines intersect as P.
 Using pipette, put a drop of ink at point P. Let it dry in air.
 Pour aquadest into test tube as a solvent.
 Suspend the paper vertically in the test tube in such a wat that the pencil line remains about 2 cm
above the solent level.
 Notice the rising solvent along with the ink.
 Take the filter paper out of the test tube and using a pencil, mark the distance that the solvent has
risen on the paper. This is called the solvent font.
 Dry the paper and put pencil marks at the centre of each color spots.
 Measure the distance of the spots and the solvent font from the original line.
 Calculate the Rf values for each spot using the formula,
distance of the spot from the original line
Rf =
distance of the solvent font from the original line
 Repeat the procedur with equal amount of ethanol-aquadest as a solvent.
 Repeat the procedur with ethanol as a solvent.

Obervation (aquadest as a solvent) :

SPOT Distance of the spot Distance of solvent font Rf
Obervation (ethanol-aquadest as a solvent) :
SPOT Distance of the spot Distance of solvent font Rf

Obervation (ethanol as a solvent) :

SPOT Distance of the spot Distance of solvent font Rf

Inference :
The Rf value
of ...............................................................................................................................................................
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