Abstract
Methods are described for the separation of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones of normal aliphatic monocarbonyl compounds by thin-layer chromatography. Magnesia-cellulose thin-layer plates are used to separate mixtures of these compounds into classes (n-alkanals, n-alkan-2-ones, n-alk-2-enals, and n-alka-2,4-dienal). Propylene glycol- and petrolatum-impregnated silica gel plates were also used to separate each class into homologues. The former impregnant resolved the compounds with less than seven carbons and the latter with more than six carbons. Two-dimensional separation was accomplished by resolving a mixture of these compounds into classes on magnesia-cellulose in the first dimension and the classes into homologues on either petrolatumor propylene glycol-impregnated silica gel plates in the second dimension.