Silica gel on TLC-PET foils, with fluorescent indicator 254 nm, silica gel matrix

Application

Silica gel on TLC-PET foils was used to perform thin layer chromatography.

General description

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a thermoplastic polymer resin. It is used on TLC plates as it prevents the chemical reagents to diffuse into the polymer matrix. The chemical degradation of PET is not easy. Silica gel is a rigid 3D network of colloidal silica. It is exclusively used as a support material for the active titanium(III) centers in Ziegler-Natta catalysts. Silica gel allows a controlled fragmentation resulting in the formation of uniform polymer particles with narrow particle size distribution and high bulk density. Silica gel is classified as below:a. Aquagel - pores are filled with waterb. Xerogel - by the process of evaporation, aqueous phase in the pores are removedc. Aerogel - solvent is removed by supercritical extraction