Chromatography Solvents - Methanol [MarZ Chemistry]

CHEMISTRY : Chromatography

Solvents: METHANOL

PROJECT CODE:	04.01h
PROJECT TITLE:	Solvents Characteristics : METHANOL (CH3.OH)
RELEASE DATE:	03 Jan 99 - 09 Jan 99
LAST UPDATE:	2 Sep 2009
VERSION HISTORY:	1.0 - First release 1.31 - ? (09Jan, 10Jan, 17Jan, 30Jan, 07Feb) 1.4 - Revision of text and formatting. (2-Sep-2009)

INTRODUCTION

Here are the chromatography characteristics of various concentrations of Methanol as a solvent. Such characteristics are the speed, solubility and separation of the two dyes from a standard ink. Concentrations tested: 30%, 40%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75% and 80% Methanol.

Chromatography characteristics that are tested include the speed , solubility and separation of the two dyes from the refernce ink.

Solubility and Separation score is out of 10 were 0 is the worst and 10 is excellent

Flow Rate is the portion (expressed as percent) of solvent that had moved along the 12cm strip of chromatography paper. For example if the solvent moved 6cm from the origin, the flow rate is given as 50%

RESULTS

Table of Results using the solvent Methanol at various concentrations: 80% - 60%
Solvent:	Methanol - CH3-OH (80-60%)
Concentration	80%	75%	70%	65%	60%
Flow Rate:	30% in 9mins 50% in 29mins 78% in 60mins 92% in 90mins	20% in 6mins 50% in 30mins 73% in 60mins 89% in 90mins	20% in 5½mins 50% in 25mins 74% in 60mins 89% in 90mins	20% in 5mins 50% in 30mins 74% in 60mins 89% in 90mins	30% in 11mins 50% in 29mins 75% in 60mins 89% in 90mins
Solubility:	8/10 Very Good, fainter spot	7/10 Good, spot of ink becomes little faint	7/10 Good, spot of ink becomes little faint	7/10 Good, spot of ink becomes little faint	6/10 Moderately Good
Separation of dyes:	4/10 Not seperated completely.	6/10 Ok, seperated with the two zones just touching each other	7/10 Seperated, but zones are very near each other	8/10 Good, but enlongated zones slightly smear into each other	9/10 Very Good
Allocated Time:	100 mins	120 mins	120 mins	110 - 120 mins	100 - 110 mins
Score:	78%	92%	92%	95%	88%
Concentration	80%	75%	70%	65%	60%
Comments:	Fast and great solubility, but the 2 zones are not completely seperated into 2 distinct zones, but one single enlongated zone, with a violet colour at the top, and the cyan colour at the bottom with a blending mixture of the two in between.	Also great rsults. Two dense roundish zones just seperated as they touch each other, with m inimal or no overlapping. No streak line from the point of application here, which has become releatively faint, prooving the excellent solubility properties.	Great results. Two roundish zones seperated from each other by just 1mm, although the lower zone seems to be more faint, enlongated and slightly smearing in the upper zone. However 2 seperate dense zones are formed.	Two lightly enlongated / roundish zones seperated by about 3mm from ech other. Quite intense colours indicates very good solvent properties. One diadvantage is the formation of a streak line from point of application to the lower zone and also a little in between the 2 zones.	Great results. Quite dense roundish zones seperated from each other by about 8mm. Also very fast, although the longer, the larger is the seperating distance between the 2 zones.

Table of Results using the solvent Methanol at various concentrations: 55% - 30%
Solvent:	Methanol - CH3-OH (55-30%)
Concentration	55%	50%	40%	30%
Flow Rate:	30% in 14mins 50% in 32mins 69% in 60mins 85% in 90mins	30% in 9mins 50% in 25mins 78% in 60mins 92% in 90mins	20% in 6mins 50% in 30mins 72% in 60mins	20% in 6mins 50% in 30mins 72% in 60mins
Solubility:	5/10 Moderately Good	3/10 Poor	1/10 Very Bad	0/10 Very Bad (nearly none)
Separation of dyes:	8/10 Very Good	7/10 Good, very faint but seperated by about 1 cm	1/10 Just a faint blue streak is visible ?!	n/a ? - too faint to evaluate
Allocated Time:	100 - 110 mins	90 - 100 mins	90 - 100 mins	80 - 90 mins
Score:	82%	55%	10%	5%
Comments:	Totally seperated, enlongated zones but there is a line of streak from point of application throughout the whole strip especialy for the cyan dye. Solubilty is not very good - the point of application is quite dark - but seperated zones are quite visible and large. They are separated by a distance of about 7mm	Good separation, producing a blue streak, and a violet dye some mm above, but solubilty is a bit poor. However it is OK for demostrating the two dyes seperately.	Just slightly better solubility from 30%, but still very faint streak was produced that makes this a bad choice.	Very, if any did actually dissolved. When drierd no dyes were visible.

SUMMARY:

BEST Separation: 65% Methanol for 120mins

For wider separation: 50% Methanol for 100 mins

For denser but not distantly separated zones: 75% Methanol for 120-130 mins or more

Chromatography Section Links :

[ Main Page ] - [ Methodology ] - [ Solvents Used ] - [ Rf Values ] - [ Ink Sample Analysis ] - [ Extracted Dyes ] - [ History ]

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