In: Biology
what are the two characteristics of a pigment that permit the differential movement of the pigments in the process of paper chromatography
Paper chromatography is a simple method to separate and ientify the different plant pigments. In this method movement pigments are separated on the basis of differential movement on the paper. Extracted pigment first put on the paper and this paper is placed in solvent. Paper absorbed the solvent and this solvent moves in upward direction on the paper by capillary action.
Pigment has two main characteristics (1) Different solubility in solvent and (2) different molecular weight.
When solvent crosses the pigment extract spot on the paper, the pigments dissolve in solvent and move with the solvent. The solvent with dissolved pigments moves up on the paper. We observed different rate of movement of pigments because they are not equally soluble. So, the more soluble pigments will move up with higher rate and the less soluble pigment with lower rate on the paper. same way, high molecular weight pigment move with lower rate and low molecular weight pigment faster on the paper.
The distance traveled by pigment is used for identification of the. The ratio of the distance traveled by a pigment extract to that of the solvent front is known as the Rf value.
Rf = distance traveled by compound/ distance traveled by solvent