Chromatography Original Scenario-Based Download PDF

Questions

1. 1.

   In an arboreal research sanctuary, an astrobotanist spots a droplet of glowing purple sap from an undiscovered canopy flower and tests whether it is a single compound or a mixture of dyes. She applies a concentrated dot of the extract onto a strip of porous cellulose paper and suspends its bottom edge in a closed beaker containing liquid ethanol. As the ethanol ascends the strip, the purple dot resolves into a bright cyan band near the solvent front and a deep magenta band that remains close to the baseline. Based on the fundamental principles of paper chromatography, which statement best accounts for the separation of these two pigments?

   • A) The cyan pigment has a higher affinity for the mobile phase than for the stationary phase, whereas the magenta pigment binds more strongly to the stationary phase.
   • B) The cyan pigment possesses a significantly greater molecular mass, causing gravitational force to pull it faster toward the top of the strip.
   • C) The magenta pigment undergoes an irreversible neutralization reaction with the ethanol, converting into an insoluble precipitate at the origin line.
   • D) The ethanol solvent boils selectively beneath the cyan pigment, creating vapor currents that propel only the blue dye upward.