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TLC - Mass Spectrometer :

Preamble
Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is one of the widely used tools by synthetic chemists to monitor organic and organometallic reactions in the laboratory. These reactions are widely used to access pharmaceuticals, perfumes, flavoring agents, agrochemicals, laboratory chemicals etc. Typically, TLC gives a qualitative idea on the product formation, however, to ascertain the identity of the products, further purification and spectroscopic (IR and NMR)/ spectrometric characterization are necessary. One of the widely used spectrometric technique used to determine the molecular weight of organic molecule is mass spectrometry (MS), which can be combined with TLC to accelerate reaction discovery. Therefore, exposing BS/MS students to such an important analytic tool will strengthen their skillset required for further academic training or securing industrial jobs. Moreover, the instrument will be useful for Ph.D. students in their research projects.

The instrument
The TLC MS is an automated system which analyses the compounds separated using TLC by mass spectrometry. The system procured from Advion, USA uses a patented technology. An in-built plate reader (Plate Express) provides a simple, automated means of visually pinpointing and extracting compounds from a range of TLC plate formats into a compact mass spectrometer (CMS). The mass detector uses electrospray ionization technology (ESI) to detect molecular ions having m/z up to 1200 amu. Synthetic organic, natural product and biomolecules such as peptides quickly analyzed without additional sample preparation utilizing TLC/MS.

Experiments
The TLC/MS will be utilized in large number of UG and PG laboratory courses, which involves the synthesis, extraction and characterization of organic compounds. Some of the experiments include preparation of a fluorescent dye for freshman students across the institute; extraction of Caffine from tea leaves; experiments involving Grignard reaction, Wittig reaction, Pechman Condensation, radical coupling reaction, Suzuki-Miyaura reaction, solid phase peptide synthesis etc. for BS/MS/Ph.D. students.