I need some help. I am doing a zoology assignment on the separation of steroid hormones by thin layer chromatography. I have searched high and low but I can't find what I 'm looking for in my text books.
The hormones examined were estradiol, estrone, progesterone and cortisone.
The solvent system was benezene/ethyl acetate/acetone (6:1:1)
I need to know the role of polarity, adsorption and molecular weight in the separations,
whether the separations would be the same with all organic solvents
and what would happen if water were the solvent
Can anyone help me?!!

First off, try getting a hold of this book, one of the definitive works on thin-layer chromatography.

Thin-layer chromatography. A laboratory handbook
Stahl, Egon
Academic Press / Springer Verlag

Rather than do your assignment for you, I'll give you a hint. The basic principals of thin layer chromatography are the same as for HPLC. With that little tidbit you should be able to dig up some info.

Use the internet or try the library (that big building with all the books).

I am a high school freshman doing an Independent Research Project using thin layer chromatography to (I hope) show that some plants within a genus are more closely related than others. Does anyone have suggestions as to magazines I could look for that would deal with this area? I have some books but would like to find some current articles as well.

Thanks for helping!
Elizabeth Murphy

I'm afraid that the books are likely to be your best bet. TLC was invented almost 40 years ago and is still used today for qualitative analyses and "quick and dirty" screening. It's considered to be fairly "low tech" and so it doesn't get much publicity.

You wouldn't want me to do your work for you anyway, but I found some good introductory material by doing a search using google (http://www.google.com) on the phrase "Thin Layer Chromatography".

Good luck with your project!

-- Tom Jupille / LC Resources Inc.