SIMULTANEOUS IDENTIFICATION OF MIXTURES OF INORGANIC CATIONS BY 2-DIMENSIONAL THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Simultaneous detection of twenty inorganic cations has been achieved b y two-dimensional (2D) TLC on cellulose with two mobile phases-(A) 1-b utanol saturated with a 1:1 mixture of 3 M HNO3 and 1 M HCI and (B) me thanol-36% HCI, 10 + 3. Development was 5-7 times faster than for a pr evious, paper chromatographic, method, which required 3-12 h and tedio us operations to achieve the separation. The twenty cations were chose n from the groups of inorganic cations studied in systematic qualitati ve analysis in introductory undergraduate chemistry courses.