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:
1: Mixture of polar / hydrocarbon solvents (i.e.: EtOAc / Hexane; Ether / Petroleum ether).
2: Mixture of polar / dichloromethane solvents (examples of polar solvent: Ether, EtOAc, MeOH).
3: Mixture of polar / benzene (or toluene) solvents (examples of polar solvent: Ether, EtOAc, MeOH).
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