Nail polish and chromatography

Basic questions from students; resources for projects and reports.

9 posts Page 1 of 1
Hi, I'm doing a school experiment (so I can't use equipment I would use in a lab) with nail polish. My aim is to separate the constituent dyes of each nail polish and identifying the most common dye, using chromatography.
My question is, should I use alcohol, or nail polish remover to do the chromatography? Would nail polish work for chromatography at all, or would it dry too quickly?
TLC?
Bigbear wrote:
TLC?

what's that?
Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC). Basically, TLC plates are glass sheets coated with a stationary phase (like silica, etc.). You draw a line at the bottom of the plate (I use pencil because it won't run in the mobile phase) and spot your sample on the line. Then, you create an elution chamber (a glass jar) with your mobile phase in it. You need enough mobile phase to elute the plate but not so much that the solvent level is higher that your spotted sample.

You put the plate in the elution chamber so that capillary action causes the liquid level to rise on the plate. It sweeps past your spotted sample, carrying it onto the stationary phase and hopefully separating the components in your mixture into discrete spots (e.g., 2 dyes from one another).

It's like HPLC but you don't use a column and pumps, you use a stationary phase on a plate and capillary action as your "pump".

A "poorer-person" might even try paper chromatography. Same thought process but use filter paper as your stationary phase. You'll need to rig something to hold up the paper as you don't want it to lay down in your elution chamber.
I am using TLC (but with filter paper) but I'm wondering if I could use a (acetone based) nail polish remover or alcohol as a solvent, and if nail polish may be separated, or whether it would dry too quickly for this to occur (sorry, I'm new at chromatography).
You could dilute the nail polish in solvent, then apply that to the chromatography paper. That way you would have the dye but not so much of the enamel. Most TLC/Paper chromatography is done with a dry spot before placing it into the mobile phase, just need to make sure your sample doesn't harden on the paper from too much enamel.

Try both solvents, you may be able to show differing separation action of the different solvents which in itself would be a confirmation step in the analysis.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
That's the great thing about TLC/Paper Chromatography. The experiments are not complicated and you can try a bunch of stuff, very quickly.
If nail polish is anything like printing ink, this won't work, because it contains pigments (insoluble) in stead of dyes (soluble). I think a dot of felt-tip pen ink would be way easier.
Another vote for felt-tip pen ink, or food colourant - both the pigments and the enamel in nail polish make it tricky to do chromatography with.

Peter
Peter Apps
9 posts Page 1 of 1

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