Planar chromatography at the turn of the century

An overview of the state-of-the-art of modern thin-layer chromatography (pl anar chromatography) is presented with emphasis on the complementary featur es of thin-layer and column liquid chromatographic separations. The reasons for selecting thin-layer chromatography for a particular analysis are iden tified by its attributes: a disposable stationary phase; simultaneous paral lel separations; static detection free of time constraints; storage device for chromatographic information; all sample components are observed in the chromatogram. Future prospects for improved separation performance in TLC u sing zone refocusing, forced flow and electroosmotic flow methods are discu ssed as well as increasing zone capacity by using two-dimensional developme nt and coupling to column chromatographic methods. Advances in coupling thi n-layer chromatography with spectroscopic methods for structural elucidatio n are also considered. Finally, some predictions are made for how thin-laye r chromatography will be practiced in the future. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.