Well, I'm a procrastinator, thats for sure. But I had to get it done, so I clamped down into my chair and got to work. I actually found this lab pretty interesting. Anyways, here is the introduction for my formal lab report for anyone interested in reading: The main purpose of this experiment is to extract pigments from a spinach sample in order to separate and subsequently analyze them while simultaneously becoming familiar with reversed-phase liquid chromatography, spectrophotometric detection, and chromatogram analysis. The experiment will help to expose the chemical diversity of plant pigments through chromatogram analysis by extrapolating information such as retention time, relative retention, and resolution of separated molecules. Perfecting skills in performing chromatography and spectrophotometry are important in separating and evaluating particular molecules for reliable, versatile, and accurate analyses. Furthermore, analytical methods of chromatograms help to dissect the information given from the recorded data in order to compare the characteristics of the molecules observed. In the experiment, these goals will be accomplished through the analysis of plant pigmentation from a sample of crushed spinach. This analysis will be performed by first separating the pigments into a concentrated form by solvent-solvent extractions, which allow the pigments to be focused into a useable solution. This extracted material is then further separated into individual pigments by a process called reversed-phase liquid chromatography, which sends a mobile phase that contains the pertinent mixture across a stationary phase. The two phases act on the molecules by moving or rooting them at different amounts depending on the amount of interactivity of the molecules, effectively separating them due to factors such as polarity, molecular weight, and shape. The pigments will then reach a flow cell, which observes the light absorbency and graphs the amount absorbed as a function of time. The resulting graph is called a chromatogram, and will show a series of peaks that correspond to the separation of pigments through the chromatography process. The chromatogram of this solution will be able to tell pertinent information such as the retention time of each pigment, relative retention in comparison to other pigments, and the resolution of how much diffusion occurred in each pigment's peak. This information will be important in analyzing the attributes of pigments, and comparing particular pigments to others in the solution.
Not bad. What you are describing is a simple separation/isolation procedure, then quantifying the resulting eluates using a spec, gathering the kinetic OD readings as they come off, and plotting the suckers. Can you tell I work in a lab ? BagOfHammers R.T.
Sounds good...maybe a little long winded, but sometimes that's what they like. Man I'm glad I'm done with lab reports.
I'm in lab every day for 4 hours 3-4 days a week, plus a couple hours in there outside of class, but thank god I have no lab reports...just have to learn every single detail available.
Yeah these lab reports are awful I have a few more years of it too haha. At least I love chemistry, right?
I do my best work the night before the due date lol. I've learned it's not procrastinating for me because it works.