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

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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).

Calculations for the Relative Fronts of Different Pigments

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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).

This is because carotene is more water soluble than chlorophyll a and is able to move up the chromatography paper with the solvent through capillary actions until the dipole-dipole forces between carotene and the ...

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