Coupling development and elution, a new thin-layer chromatography technique

Three methods of coupling development and elution were studied in this paper. (1) A new mode of solvent supplementation and eluate collection was developed for descending development. By using a new distributor and collector in descending development, components can be separated and eluted continuously. (2) The same effect can be realized with a slope distributor [Su et al., J. Planar Chromatogr. 14 (2001) 203] and a collector by horizontal development. (3) In-situ elution can be used to treat a developed silica plate, which can elute the separated components to the receptor without scraping them off. These three methods can be used individually, and the in-situ elution can be used with other modes of development.