Rf Value Lab Report

After finding the Rf values of the four known compounds, solvent 1 (99.5% ethyl acetate/0.5% acetic acid) was chosen, due to the wide range of results, for the remaining experiments. Ibuprofen, our known tablet, gave a similar Rf value to our previous results for Ibuprofen. For Anadin extra, there were three compounds identified as Caffeine, Paracetamol and Aspirin as the Rf values of the drug were close to the values of these three compounds in the first part of the practical. For both of these known drugs, the Rf values acquired were close to my predictions before the experiment. For the unknown powder, we obtained Rf values of 0.52 and 0.76 so we believe that the unknown powder contains Aspirin and Ibuprofen.
To confirm the results for the known drugs, we can find the literature value of the Rf. For the unknown powder, we could repeat the TLC with both the unknown and predicted compounds on the same TLC plate to see if the Rf values match. To confirm the results of both the known and unknown we can also put the samples in a mass spectrometry.
A lot of safety precautions were taken into consideration whilst doing the experiment. Lab coats, goggles and gloves were worn. However, the gloves were removed whilst using the Bunsen burner to make the spotters from capillary tubes.

This could be due to not putting enough sample on the line to begin with. To improve this, a small amount of the sample should be placed repeatedly on the line until it becomes dark. Another reason for the faint spots could be because of cross-contamination. Some ways to improve this would be to provide each pair of student with their own samples. This would reduce the cross-contamination that may be caused by other pairs of students. It would also help to have separate spatulas for each sample which would further reduce the contamination between