MolDraw › Templates › Reaction setups › Chromatography of leaf pigments
Reaction setupsPremium
Chromatography of leaf pigments template
Premium template. Preview and edit it free in MolDraw; downloading and exporting it is part of MolDraw Pro.
Leaves ground with sand and propanone, the extract spotted many times on a pencil baseline, and the TLC plate (or chromatography paper) run in a covered chamber of non-polar solvent. A-level / AP / IB Biology.
What the template shows
- Separate the photosynthetic pigments of a leaf and identify them by Rf value
- Capillary tube
- Spot on the pencil baseline, let it dry, repeat 10 or more times for a small, concentrated spot
- Grind the leaves
- With a little sand and propanone to give a dark green extract
- Covered chamber
- Solvent below the baseline (e.g. petroleum ether : propanone 9 : 1). Flammable: no flames, good ventilation
- Solvent front
- Mark it in pencil as soon as the plate comes out
- Pigment spots
- Top to bottom: carotene (orange), xanthophyll (yellow), chlorophyll a (blue-green), chlorophyll b (yellow-green)
- Rf = distance moved by pigment ÷ distance moved by solvent, both from the baseline
- Reaction setup
Drawn with 13 shapes – every one editable in MolDraw.
Sources
How to use this template
- Press Edit in MolDraw. The template opens on the canvas of the free MolDraw editor.
- Change anything: move structures, edit atoms and labels, recolour highlights or delete what you do not need.
- Add your own structures, arrows and text next to it, or combine several templates on one page.
- Export the drawing as PNG, SVG or PDF for slides, worksheets, theses and papers.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Chromatography of leaf pigments template free?
You can preview the Chromatography of leaf pigments template here and open and edit it in MolDraw for free. Downloading or exporting it is part of MolDraw Pro, together with the other premium templates.
Can I edit the Chromatography of leaf pigments template?
Yes. It opens as an ordinary MolDraw drawing, so every structure, arrow, label and colour can be changed, and you can add your own content around it.
Is the chemistry checked?
Every structure is checked with RDKit and every curly arrow passes MolDraw’s electron-flow audit. The sources used are listed on this page.
Can I edit the glassware?
Yes. Every piece of glassware is a MolDraw apparatus object: move, resize, recolour the liquid or swap a piece and the joints stay connected.