THE DESIGN AND OPERATION OF A NOVEL DEVICE FOR COLLECTING FRACTIONS FROM TLC PLATES FOR BIOLOGICAL AND SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS

A novel, automated device is reported for collecting fractions from TL C plates. The adsorbent is removed from the plate by scraping and then transferred by suction into empty solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartri dges. The positions of tracks and bands on the plate are defined by im porting data from a scanning densitometer. The operator can then selec t the bands to be collected in each SPE tube. After automatic processi ng, solvent extraction can be used to retrieve the analytes from the s ilica in the cartridges.