Column Chromatography Lab Report

The purpose of column chromatography is to separate one compound from another by the differing polarities in the compound. This technique is important in organic chemistry because certain experiments may require the separation of compounds in solution to be used for chemical synthesis and/or analysis of a particular desired product by isolating it. Fluorene is to be separated from 9-fluorenone using the technique of column chromatography. The success of separation and purity is determined with analyzation technique thin layer chromatography and measuring the melting temperatures. The theory of column chromatography is the separation of compounds mixtures in a solution by their differences in polarities using different solvents of different polarities. In this experiment, a silica column is used as a stationary phase to aid the separation by providing an interaction for the compounds in the solution besides the solvent. This allows the mixture compound to form separating polarity layers in the column. A non polar solvent pentane is used first for its high interaction with non polar compounds and a lower interaction with polar solvents. Since non polar compounds are more soluble in nonpolar solvents, it would have a higher intermolecular interaction with the solvent and move with the solvent in the mobile than the
The corresponding crystals are analyzed through thin layer chromatography and measuring melting temperature to determine the success of the separation and the purity of the product. Thin layer chromatography theory of separation is the same as column chromatography. However, TLC is used to analysis of compounds rather than for separation of compounds. The crystals are dissolved and spotted onto the column, where a developing solution is used to separate the compounds by polarity using a silica complex TLC