[Alcane2214]

Hello there

I have a question that maybe you could help me with

I have a metal complex mixed with his ligand and i wanted to isolate them in order to purify the complex. The problem is that i can't find any TLC conditions to do so. (if you have any help for that, i'll gladly take it! ) The two compounds always form a single spot, but i know i got both compounds because of NMR studies. (For more details about the products, see attachment) I do TLC with UV Lamp, and i use short and long wave. Maybe there is another method that could give me a better result?

To isolate them, i tought i could use SEPHADEX collum (one is around 400mw and the other, 900 mw). The only problem i have is that both are colorless. Does anybody have an idea on how i could know they got separed? Even if one of them had any color, how could i know that the other is not there, assuming that i can't see that by TLC?

I'm sorry about the english, it's not my main language

Thanks for your help
Have a good day

[Babcock_Hall]

You might benefit by thinking more broadly about spectrophotometry.

[MOTOBALL]

Suppose this was a synthesis of cobalamin (vit. B12) or chlorophyll—- how would you detect the product with the highest sensitivity using UV?

Forget the tlc for the moment.

[rolnor]

Maybe the complex is not stable on TLC and what you see moving on the plate is only ligand? Its surprising that they dont separate.
You could run a silica-column and run NMR on the material you get and see if it is pure ligand or a mixture.