Chinese J. Chromatogr. 26 (1), 50-55 (2008). TLC of some endophytic fungi isolated by column chromatography from selected medicinal plants on silica gel plates with 1) chloroform - methanol 7:1, 2) chloroform - acetonitrile 7:3, 3) ethyl acetate - 2-propanol 19:1, 4) methylene chloride - tetrahydrofuran 3:1, 5) methylene chloride - methanol - dimethylformamide 90:9:1. Detection by spraying with 1 % vanillin sulfuric acid reagent after gentle heating. Also HPTLC on silica gel with chloroform - methanol 9:1. Detection by densitometry at 254 nm and 366 nm. If taxol was present, derivatization by spraying with 1 % vanillin sulfuric acid reagent and heating for 2 min, then detection under UV 366 nm and white light. Only 13 fungal species produced taxol in the artificial culture medium of the 20 screened fungi.

J. Chromatogr. A 1217(34), 5470-5476 (2010). Description of a combination method using high-speed counter-current chromatography and TLC as an antioxidant assay to separate antioxidant components from the fruits of Psoralea corylifolia by dipping in a ethanolic DPPH radical solution (2.54 mM) for autography. Bands with the DPPH scavenging activity were observed as white yellow bands on a purple background. High-speed counter-current chromatography of five flavonoids and three coumarins from the fruits of P. corylifolia with n-hexane - ethyl acetate - methanol - water 10:11:13:1. Preparative TLC for clean-up improves the substance yield from the fruits.

J. Chromatogr. A 1218 (19), 2661-2667 (2011). Investigation of the performance of highly anisotropic nanostructured thin film ultrathin-layer chromatography (UTLC) media with porosity and architecture engineered using the glancing-angle deposition (GLAD) process. The anisotropic structures resemble nanoblades, producing channel-like features that partially decouple analyte migration from development direction, offering new separation behaviours. Study on GLAD-UTLC plate performance in terms of migration distance, plate number, retention factor and a figure of merit specific to GLAD-UTLC, track deviation angle, showing that migration distances increase with porosity by a factor of two for all feature orientations (up to a maximum of 22 mm) over the range of porosities considered in this study. Plate numbers approaching 1100 are observed for GLAD-UTLC plates when the nanoblade features are aligned with the development direction. The theoretical model describing mobile phase flow in anisotropic GLAD-UTLC media was in good agreement with experimental results. The plates provide channel features that reduce transverse spot broadening while providing the wide pores required for rapid migration and high separation performance, which may enable a greater number of parallel separations on miniaturized GLAD-UTLC plate formats. The small sizes should also make them compatible with the office chromatography concept in which office peripherals (inkjet printers and flatbed scanners) replace conventional TLC instruments.

Spectroscopy and Spectral Anal. 30(12), 3254-3257 (2010). Dye analysis is important for the understanding of fabric color degradation and technical development of ancient printing and dyeing. TLC of blue dyes extracted from 6 silk fabrics of the Tang dynasty and decorative paintings of Jian Fu Gong (Forbidden City) on silica gel with benzene – nitrobenzene – acetone 8:1:1. Identification of indigo by comparison of the colors and the Rf value with the zone by the standard, and by Raman spectroscopy of raw samples. Raman spectroscopy is a nondestructive analysis whereas TLC requires small amounts of sample but may give more information. Both methods may be applicable for cultural heritages. The results obtained indicate that all these blue substances are indigo, which was not only used as dye in ancient fabrics, but also as pigment in decorative painting of historic buildings.

J. Trad. Chinese Veterinary Med. (5), 53-55 (2010). TLC on silica gel with acetone – ethanol – hydrochloric acid 10:6:1. Detection by spraying with bismuth potassium iodide – 1 % FeCl3 in ethanol 5:1 and heating at 100 ºC. Quantitative determination of stachydrine by absorbance measurement at 510 nm. The precision was 3.7 %RSD within plate (n=8), and the stability of the measurement within 120 minutes was 4.5 %RSD (n=5). The linearity range was 3.2-38.3 µg/zone (r=0.997, n=6) and standard addition recovery was 96.6 % (RSD=2.0 %, n=6).

CBS 105, 13-15 (2010). HPTLC of PVC foil samples on silica gel with isooctane – toluene – diethyl ether – ethyl acetate 8:7:4:1 after chamber saturation for 10 min, up to a migration distance of 65 mm. Detection of the biological activity of any compound migrated from the plastic foils in migration studies by dipping in Vibrio fischeri bacteria suspension and documentation with the Bioluminizer. Also direct extraction of additives from plastic foils by the TLC-MS Interface coupled to an Agilent LC-MS system and recording of the eluted additives in the positive ESI mode. Exact masses of unknowns were calculated with MassWorks software allowing their improved specification and thus their confirmation.

J. Sep. Sci. 34, 2397-2404 (2011). TLC of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to examine the influence of magnetic field on the retention of compounds on silica gel, with monocomponent mobile phases containing n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, benzene, and toluene and as binary phases, mixtures of n-hexane - benzene 9:1, 7:3, and 1:1. The magnetic field influences the retention and separation efficiency of investigated chromatographic systems.

J. Planar Chromatogr. 24, 445-446 (2011). TLC of cypermethrin as standard and in ethanolic viscera extracts on silica gel with cyclohexane - toluene 3:2 in a saturated chamber. Detection at UV 254 nm and after spraying with 20 % sodium hydroxide solution followed by 1 % copper(II)acetate solution and 1 % phosphomolybdic acid solution. After 5 min, the plate was sprayed with 0.1 % o-tolidine reagent and intense blue zones due to the quinodial oxidation product of o-tolidine were detected. The hRf value for cypermethrin was 38.