Silica Gel, Standard – TLC Grades

Sorbtech offers an assortment of silica gels for the making of analytical and preparative TLC plates.

Our Silica Gel for TLC (Cat. #11610) does not contain a binder. In addition to the making of TLC plates, this silica gel can be used in a packed column format for extra high resolution and at a low flow rate.

Making a soft-layer TLC plate can be achieved using a Sorbtech TLC grade silica gels. However, it’s not an easy task and takes some learning.

For ready-made TLC plates, please visit our TLC web pages to find a large selection of TLC plates with various coatings and sizes. The TLC grade silica gels come with or without a fluorescent indicator (UV254) and/or a gypsum (G) binder (aka CaSO₄·½ H₂O, or Plaster of Paris.)

To attain strong adherence to the glass support, enough gypsum must be added to the mixture (10-15%).

The thickness of an analytical TLC plate adsorbent layer is typically 250µm, and for a preparative TLC plate, the adsorbent layer is 500µm, 1000µm, or 2000µm.

1. Silica gel and gypsum are mixed with water
2. This mixture is spread as a thick slurry on a clean glass plate
3. The resultant plate is slowly dried at about 100°F
4. The plates are activated by heating in an oven for thirty minutes at 110°C