The thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) behaviour of the metal complexes of tetraphenylporphine with twelve rare earths, viz., Y(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Eu(III), Gd(III), Tb(III), Dy(III), Ho(III), Er(III), Tm(III), Yb(III) and Lu(III), on TLC plates coated with octadecylsilica gel (C 18) and aminopropylsilica gel (NH 2) is described. Most of these metal complexes can be successfully developed without undesirable demetallation of the complexes in the migration process with a methanol-water mixture (90:10, v/v) containing both acetylacetone and diethylamine, typically at 5—10% and 0.5—1% for the C 18 and NH 2 plates, respectively. On a C 18 plate, the mobility ( R F) of the complexes of lanthanide metals tends to decrease in the order of the atomic numbers of the metals, whereas on an NH 2 plate the reverse order occurs. On both C 18 and NH 2 plates the R F value of the Y(III) complex lies between those of the Dy(III) and Ho(III) complexes.