[CopperSmurf]

What eluent should I use to run the TLC plates and should I use hexane as a solvent to dissolve fluorene and fluorone for spotting on TLC plates?

fluorene is really non-polar and fluorone is ever so slightly polar. So maybe a mixture eluent of an ether and something non-polar? Or what about dichloromethane? Has anyone tried doing this successfully?

[phil81]

First: Are you sure you mean fluorone and not fluorenone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorone, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorenone)?

As to which eluent works best, only an experiment can give you the answer. Just try it Hexane with maybe a few percent of AcOEt sounds like a good start. As a solvent for dissolving the fluorene/fluorone, you can basically take anything if you can let it evaporate before starting the TLC. So dichloromethane is fine if you heat the plate a little after "spotting" the material.

For detailed instructions, see http://chem.chem.rochester.edu/~nvd/tlchowto.html (an excellent website anyway).