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Separations

Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: Aurora borealis

by Alexandra Taylor
August 29, 2018
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Most Popular in Analytical Chemistry

 

A photo of a TLC plate under ultraviolet light.
Credit: Indrajit Srivastava

This thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plate, illuminated by an ultraviolet lamp emitting light at 365 nm, displays bands reminiscent of the aurora borealis, a phenomenon caused when solar wind disturbs the magnetosphere. Indrajit Srivastava, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, uses TLC to analytically separate materials. The number of bands indicates how many components are present in the reaction mixture. Here Srivastava is analyzing a reaction mixture containing a pyrene-pyrazole-based dye. Without the UV lamp, only two bands would be visible. The lab that Srivastava works in synthesizes novel dyes for imaging applications.

Submitted by Indrajit Srivastava

Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest here.

Related C&EN content:

Magnetic fields could fish out enantiomers

Bacteria separate rare earths

Chemistry in Pictures: I ❤ chromatography

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society

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