SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE SYSTEM FOR USING THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR MICROPREPARATIVE PURPOSES

Glass high-resolution TLC plates were used to separate very small amou nts of material (ng-mg). Either spots or linear zones can be quantitat ively eluted after separating them from the surroundings with a fast-m oving drill, which removes thin lines of layer material. Elution is ca rried out by siphoning eluent through a specially formed sintered glas s on to one end of the zone or spot and picking up the eluate at the o ther with a piece of filter-paper carton. The latter can be extracted by soaking and centrifugation. Application in the carbohydrate field i s demonstrated by a preparative isolation for structural analysis of t hree components and the determination of different amounts of one comp ound for analytical purposes.