[Mark S 2014]

I performed a synthesis reaction, acetaminophen forming phenetidine hydrochloride, with phenacetin as the intermediate. I ran a TLC using 70:30 ethyl acetate:pet. ether 60-80 solvent. The acetaminophen was the lowest, then phenacetin and phenetidine hydrochloride were both higher but very close to one another, the phenetidine was quite faint though. My demonstrator mentioned something about abstraction or extraction of hydrogen being the reason that the insoluble phenetidine moves up the plate. Can anyone tell me if this is correct ? And if so, what exactly is abstraction ?