How to monitor a reaction in presence of similar Rfs for both starting materials and product of interest?

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Possible Solutions:

• Try the co-spotting method.
• Try to visualize the plate using anisaldehyde or molybdene. Spot color or brightness differ for two compounds when using these stains.
• If none of the two previous solutions work, change solvent systems (use another class of solvent).

Tips: in chromatography, there are three classes of solvent systems providing significantly different results: