Chromatography and Pigments

The mobile phase of the experiments are the solvents which include H₂O, C_H3OH, C₃H₇OH, and C₆H_{14. The stationary phase is the paper strips we used during the lab. Retention time was how long the solvent held onto the pigment. The farther the pigments went, the longer retention time. A polar molecule will be better at carrying the pigments because it is stickier than a non polar molecule. Our prediction was that} C₃H₇OH would be the best solvent.



In part 1, our first step was to fill four of the wells in the well tray half full of different solvents. We then took chromatography paper and put 3 or 4 dots using black ink. The paper had a right angle bend 1.5 cm from the end. Then we placed the strips in the solvents. After about a half an hour, we observed what had happened to the pigments of the ink





Our observations from part one were that water was the most affective solvent at carrying pigments. Followed by methanol, escpropy, and hexane.

The next day we repeated the experiment using H2O because it was the best solution at spreading the pigments.

Safety Procedures: Apron, goggles, hair tied back, keeping solvents under the fume hood to avoid headaches, closed shoes and no bulky clothing.