Chlorophyll B Chromatography Lab

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Introduction Paper chromatography is a useful technique for separating and identifying pigments and other molecules from cell extracts that contain a mixture of molecules. As solvent moves up the paper, it carries along any substances dissolved in it. The more soluble, the further it travels and vice versa. The purpose of this experiment was to separate plants pigments. Hypothesis The scientist hypothesized that the most polar and least soluble substance, chlorophyll B will be at the bottom of the chromatography paper and that it would be followed by chlorophyll A, xanthophyll and then finally the least polar but most soluble substance beta carotene will be towards the top of the chromatography paper. Method & Results The scientists used a capillary tube to streak the leaf pigment extract on a pencil that was previously drawn a centimeter from the edge of the paper cylinder. The …show more content…

Chlorophyll B was the least soluble because of its polarity, so it was not that soluble in hexane and ethyl acetate. Chlorophyll b was also the most polar because it contained the most oxygens within it. The oxygens make the pigment polar because of oxygen’s electronegativity. The second most polar pigment was Chlorophyll a, it was the 3rd most soluble. Chlorophyll a has five oxygens. Xanthophyll contains a single oxygen and was the second most soluble. Beta Carotene was the final pigment and it was the least polar and most soluble because it did not have any oxygens in it. There was a trend in the movement of the color bands, representing the characteristic of the polarity of the pigment. Using a nonpolar solvent, the nonpolar color bands move

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