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9) Paper Chromatography
9) Paper Chromatography
- It was the Russian botanist Mikhail Tsvet (Mikhail Semyonovich Tsvet) who invented the
first chromatography technique in 1901.
- The separation of molecules depends on differences of 1- size 2- shape 3- mass 4- charges
5- solubility and 6- adsorption.
Types of Chromatography:
1- Adsorption chromatography.
2- Partition chromatography e.g. paper chromatography
3- Gel-filtration chromatography.
Uses of chromatography:
- Mixtures can be solids, liquids or gases but their components must be able to dissolve in
the same solvent to different extents.
- Test mixture is applied onto the chromatography paper and a solvent is then allowed to
pass over the paper. As the solvent does so, the components of the mixture travel along with
it.
- The stationary phase retards the passage of the components of the sample. When
components pass through the system at different rates they become separated in time.
The components will travel at different rates over paper depending on:
Generally, the more soluble the component is in the solvent and the less it adsorb onto the
chromatography paper, the faster it would move with the solvent on the paper and hence
the spot appears further up the paper
- The mixture is separated in the first solvent which should be volatile then after drying the
paper is turned through 90 and separation is carried out in the second solvent. After
location, a map is obtained and compounds can be identified by comparing their position
with a map of known compounds developed under the same conditions.
Stationary Phase:
- Because it has the ability to adsorb water molecules between cellulose fibers and forms a
stationary hydrophilic phase.
Mobile Phase:
1- If the compounds move close to solvent (A) front >>>>> these compounds are highly
soluble in solvent A
2- If the compounds are crowded around the origin >>>>> these compounds are not
sufficiently soluble in solvent B.
solvent A & B. As a result R f values of the components of the mixture are spread across
the length of the paper.
Retention Factor(R f ):
- The retention is measured as the retention factor Rf, the run length of the compound
laboratories due to variations of the solvent, the stationary phase, temperature, and the
Detection of Spots:
- Separation and identification of amino acids are operations that must be performed
frequently by biochemists. The 20 amino acids present in proteins have similar structures.
- The movement of amino acids can be defined by a quantity known as Rf value, which
measures the movement of an amino acid compared to the movement of the solvent. At the
start of the chromatography, the amino acid is spotted at what is called the origin. The
chromatography is then performed, and the procedure is stopped before the solvent runs
all the way up the paper. The level to which the solvent has risen is called the solvent front.
The Rf value of an amino acid is the ratio of the distance traveled by the amino acid from
the origin to the distance traveled by the solvent from the origin.
- Since Rf value for an amino acid is constant for a given chromatography system, an
unknown amino acid can be identified by comparing its Rf value to those of known amino
acids.
Application:
Materials:
1- Filter paper: Watman No.1.
2- Solvent system: Butanol: glacial acetic acid: water.
References:
www.wikipedia.org
- Calculate the R f and then identify the unknown amino acids in the mixture.