APPLICATION OF THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY IN QUANTITATIVE INORGANIC ANALYSIS AND IN RADIOCHEMICAL STUDIES

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) or chromatography on planar beds finds many applications in the synthesis and determination of organic molec ules. This review is devoted to an area of application at least as imp ortant but perhaps not as widely known - analysis of inorganic and rad ioactive substances. Information about the historical development, rec ent advances in both methodological and instrumental aspects and a sci entometric analysis of the use of TLC for inorganic determinations in various fields is provided. Considerable space is devoted to descripti on of the instrumental methods known to be successful in the determina tion of and quantitative estimation of inorganic TLC zones directly on the plate (densitometry, fluorimetry, radiometry, planimetry, visual methods, etc.) and after elution of the material from the developed zo nes. Methods applicable to most of the elements of the Periodic Table are summarized as are those for various natural and industrial samples including minerals, ores, rocks, waters, metals, salts, biological sa mples, botanical materials, foodstuffs, drugs and cosmetics.