TLC separation and identification of heavy metals present in cotton material

Abstract

Optimization of the separation and identification of heavy metals present in cotton material has been performed by TLC-densitometry after microwave digestion of cotton samples. The best separation was achieved on precoated microcrystalline cellulose layers with acetonitrile-conc. HCl-water as mobile phase. Optimization of the composition of the ternary mobile phase was achieved by use of experimental design software. Plates were visualized with quercetin-dimethylglyoxime-NH 3 reagent. A highly sensitive CCD color video camera was used to capture the chromatograms under white light.