Separation of photosynthetic pigments by chromatography Mixtures of these pigments from chloroplasts can be separated using paper chromatography. The pigments can be extracted from leaves by grinding the leaves in organic solvents with a pinch of sand to break up the plant cells.

Use of chromatography to investigate the pigments isolated from leaves of different plants, e.g. leaves from shade-tolerant and shade-intolerant plants or leaves of different colours. Chromatography​​ is used to ​separate​​ out different components in a sample.

Separation of Plant Pigments Using Chromatography. The solvent carries the dissolved pigments as it moves up the paper. The pigments are carried along at different rates because they are not equally soluble. Therefore, the less soluble pigments will move slower up the paper than the more soluble pigments.

In Autumn, chlorophyll breaks down, allowing xanthophyll and carotene, and newly made anthocyanin, to show their colors. The mix of pigments in a leaf may be separated into bands of color by the technique of paper chromatography. The pattern of separated components on the paper is called a chromatogram.

A paper chromatography variant, two-dimensional chromatography involves using two solvents and rotating the paper 90° in between. This is useful for separating complex mixtures of compounds having similar polarity, for example, amino acids.

Readily Available Solvents for Paper Chromatography

The purpose of paper chromatography is to separate a mixture into its various components. Using a sample that is a mixture of several highly colored components, such as ink or leaf pigments, allows the scientist to see the components as they separate.

partition

The stationary phase of paper chromatography is cellulose paper which polar and water are also quite polar, therefore there is no distinction by which to separate the molecules. The water is not used in the paper chromatography, due to the water the paper swells up and ultimately dissolves.

Paper chromatography uses paper as the stationary phase. The exact type of paper used is important. Filter paper is one of the best types, although paper towels and even newspaper can also be used.

Its slight polarity allows it to dissolve polar substances, and the fact that it is less polar than water allows greater resolution between pigments on paper. These reasons allow acetone to be a great solvent for pigment chromatography.

Paper chromatography

1. Paper chromatography. Water and ethanol solution is heated.
2. As the paper is lowered into the solvent, some of the dye spreads up the paper.
3. The paper has absorbed the solvent, and the dye has spread further up the paper.

1) It is used to separate solution of coloured substances. 2) It is used in forensic sciences to detect and identify trace amount of substances in the contents of bladder and stomach. 3) It is used to separate small amount of products of chemical reaction.

Pharmaceutical companies use chromatography both to prepare large quantities of extremely pure materials, and also to analyze the purified compounds for trace contaminants. A growing use of chromatography in the pharmaceutical industry is for the separation of chiral compounds.

Chromatography is a technique used for separating two or more dissolved solids, which are present in the solution in small quantities. Separation is based on the fact that two or more substances are soluble in the solvent but their solubility is different.

Applications

• Enantiomers,
• Diastereoismers,
• Purification of proteins, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and.
• It can provide high purity and high recovery in a very short time.
• Drugs like Prozac; Citalopram etc., can be purified.

Liquid chromatography is a useful analytical tool for establishing the components of a drug’s formulation, enabling researchers to quantify the formulation and discover whether there are any impurities in a product.

Advantages and disadvantages of chromatography

• -More efficient technique than the other.
• -Chromatographic technique can separate the mixture contain more than one component.
• -It requires the small amount of sample for the analysis.
• -Most widely used method in pharmaceutical industry.

Chromatography is used for quality analyses and checker in the food industry, by identifying and separating, analyzing additives, vitamins, preservatives, proteins, and amino acids. Chromatography like HPLC is used in DNA fingerprinting and bioinformatics.

Crystallization is primarily employed as a separation technique in order to obtain pure crystals of a substance from an impure mixture. Another important application of crystallization is its use to obtain pure salt from seawater. Crystallization can also be used to obtain pure alum crystals from an impure alum.

The most practical usage of crystallization should be salt crystallization and it’s the most cost-effective way to produce salt even at today. Other applications of the tech include compound purification and crystal production.

Application of centrifugation are:

• Used in diagnostic laboratories for blood and urine test.
• Used in dairies and home to separate butter from cream.
• Used in a washing machines to squeeze out water from wet clothes.

Centrifugation is a technique used for the separation of particles from a solution according to their size, shape, density, viscosity of the medium and rotor speed. The particles are suspended in a liquid medium and placed in a centrifuge tube. The tube is then placed in a rotor and spun at a define speed.

One of the most common methods of centrifugation is pelleting, which is used for many popular purification protocols, such as:

• DNA extraction.
• Plasmid DNA extraction (mainly bacteria or yeast)
• Protein extraction.
• Extraction of blood cells.

Some common examples of centrifugation include: The extraction of fat from milk in order to produce skimmed milk. The removal of water from moist lettuce with the help of a salad spinner. The Spin-drying of water in washing machines in order to remove water from the clothing.