Thin Layer Chromatography

[etaxene]

Hi!!


A simple TLC can be considered a qualitative or semi-quantitative analysis?

Like this for example:

[tom jupille]

Without knowing details of what I'm supposed to be looking at, it's difficult to be specific. But, in general:

• TLC is widely used as a qualitative technique (do a Google on the keywords tlc + pharmacognosy for examples).
• TLC can be quantitative, but that gets cumbersome, usually requiring densitometry. That was a semi-hot area when I started doing chromatography in the mid-70s, but has been almost completely eclipsed by HPLC today.
• I'm not sure what you mean by "semi-quantitative". You can run your sample on a plate bracketed by varying-level samples and do a visual comparison, but that gets *very* subjective and it gives away one of the advantages of TLC: the ability to process multiple samples in parallel.