The applications of thin layer chromatography

To determine the purity of any sample : the purity of sample can be carried out with TLC.Under a set of identical conditions, if two spot travel the same distance they are considered as same compounds; if any impurity is detected, then it shows extra spots which could be easily detected

To Identify unknown compounds: Thin layer chromatography can be employed in purification, isolation and identification  of natural products like volatile oils, waxes, alkaloids, and steroids.

To determine the number of components in a mixture. if multiple different spots show up instead of one, we can be very sure that the material is a mixture.

One advantage of using TLC is that very small amount of sample is used. As a result, TLC can be used as test to find the proper solvent for other separation, or test the effectiveness of some other separation such as column chromatography.

One of the most important application of TLC in organic lab is to monitor the progress of a reaction. During the period of the experiment, you can sampling the reaction mixture several times and spot on a TLC plate to see:

Is there still starting material?

Anything new except the starting material?

Only one product ( new material ) or several different kinds show up?

Is the spot corresponding to the product( relative polarity)?

What is the best reaction time?

Biochemical analysis: TLC is extremely useful in isolation or separation of biochemical metabolites or constituent from its body fluids, blood plasma, serum, urine.

In pharmaceutical industry: TLC has been adopted for the detection of impurity in various pharmaceutical drugs for example, Various medicines like hypnotics, sedatives, tranquillisers, , local anaesthetics, steroids have been tested qualitatively by TLC method. You also have the application of TLC is in separation of multicomponent pharmaceutical formulation

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In food and cosmetic industry , TLC method is used for separation and identification of colours, preservatives, sweetening agent, and various cosmetic products.

Advantages of using thin layer chromatography

very simple to use inexpensive.

There are little materials needed for TLC (chamber, watch glass, capillary, plate, solvent, pencil, and UV-light).

More than 1 compound can be separated on a TLC plate as long as the mobile phase is preferred for each compound.

The solvents for the TLC plate can be changed easily and it is possible to use several different solvents depending on your desired results.

You can modify the chromatography conditions easily to increase the optimization for resolution of a specific component.

Disadvantages of TLC

TLC plates do not have long stationary phases. Therefore, the length of separation is limited compared to other chromatographic techniques. Also, the detection limit is a lot higher. If you would need a lower detection limit, one would have to use other chromatographic techniques. TLC operates as an open system, so factors such as humidity and temperature can be consequences to the results of your chromatogram.