Chromatography is a useful separation technique. Various methods are available such as paper, TLC and gas. Volumetric titrations provide important information about the concentration of chemicals.
Various chemical analysis techniques can be used to help identify the chemicals present in reaction mixtures or give important information about the products of a chemical reaction.
Chromatography is an important analytical technique because it allows chemists to separate substances in complex mixtures. There are a variety of types of chromatography, which can be used in different contexts.
In chromatography, substances are separated as they travel in a mobile phase which passes through a stationary phase.
Different substances travel at different speeds, so some move further than others in a given time.
In paper chromatography, the stationary phase is a sheet of chromatography paper. The mobile phase may either be an aqueous (water-based) liquid or a non-aqueous (carbon-based) organic solvent.
An example of an organic solvent is propanone - which is the main chemical in nail varnish remover.
For each chemical in the sample, there is a dynamic equilibrium between the stationary phase and the mobile phase.
The overall separation depends upon how strongly attracted the chemicals are to the mobile and the stationary phases.
This produces a chromatogram where different samples can be compared to a reference material.