[Solved] Separation of Lipids: The Thin Layer Chromatography

SEPARATION OF LIPIDS: THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY Abstract A lipid is a general term that refers to all fatty acids as well as their derivatives. The term can also be used to refer to any other compound that is functionally or synthetically related to fatty acids. On the other hand, Thin Layer Chromatography is a separation technique that is widely utilized due to its relatively fast results and the fact that it is also quite inexpensive. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) is widely used in the separation of smaller, non-polar compounds. Indeed, the technique offers more advantages over the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). As much as HPLC offers quantification ease and versatility, the Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) technique has a very high rate of reproducibility. This main advantage, combined with the fact that the technique is inexpensive, makes researchers utilize it more often than not. This report discusses an experiment to separate different sets of lipids and determine unknown class of lipids from already known lipids. Based on migration coefficients (RF) values of known lipids on the TLC plates, it will be possible to identify the constituent lipids in the unknown lipid mixture.