Separation of Photosynthetic Pigments by Chromatograph
Fig. 1 Simulated data for paper
chromatography of spinach leaf.
Use these results to calculate the RF
Values for the four identified pigments:
Show your work: (4)
Rf equation:
Rf = distance traveled by compound
distance traveled by solvent
Answer the following questions:
1. If there were actually 4 differently coloured pigments in the spinach leaf, why
does the leaf look green? (1)
2. In terms of the properties of pigments, why do carotenes travel a greater
distance than chlorophyll b? (2)
3. The solvent used in this simulation was 95% ethanol. Would you expect the Rf
values to change if a 70% isopropyl alcohol was used? Explain. (2)
4. Describe the results that would be obtained if water was used as the solvent
instead of some type of alcohol. (1)
5. Predict which of these pigment lines (there could be more than one) would be
absent if this simulation was done with sugar maple leaves obtained in October.
Explain. (2)