Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a kind of chromatography technique used for the separation of non-volatile mixture. Silica gel corresponds to the thin layer of absorbent material of TLC plate and is known as the stationary phase. The separation of compound through TLC is based on the completion of the solute and the mobile phase (such as heptane for silica gel) for binding places on the silica gel. Compounds of different polarity have different extent of interactions with the silica gel, and can be successively separated with the mobile phase. Silica gel used for TLC usually contains the particles of 40-63 μm.
