Chromatography of Photosynthetic Pigments

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Chromatography of Photosynthetic Pigments

Aim: To determine the different photosynthetic pigments found in spinach and find their relative front values using paper chromatography.

By grinding the spinach leaves, its pigments were extracted in order to run a thin layer of chromatography film.

The relative front values for every photosynthetic pigment are found by dividing 'a' (distance each pigment travelled from the loading line in cm) by 'b' (distance solvent travelled from the same loading line in cm).

Pigment

Color

Carotene

Yellow

Phaeophytin

Yellow-grey

Xanthophyll

Yellow-brown

Chlorophyll a

Blue-green

Chlorophyll b

green

Calculations for the Relative Fronts of Different Pigments

Pigment

a (cm)
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b (cm)

Experimental Rf

Standard Rf

Carotene

5.7

6.2

0.91

0.98

Phaeophytin

3

6.2

0.48

0.53

Xanthophyll

2.4

6.2

0.38

0.3

Chlorophyll a

.9

6.2

0.3

0.42

Chlorophyll b

.2

6.2

0.19

0.34

Comparison of the Experimental and Standard

Relative Fronts of Photosynthetic Pigments

Evaluation

Carotene travelled the furthest away from the loading line (5.7cm ) while chlorophyll a demonstrated the shortest distance travelled (1.2).
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