Chromatography was first employed in Russia by the Italian-born scientist Mikhail Tsvet in 1900. He continued working with chromatography in the first decade of the 20th century, especially for the separation of plant pigments such as chlorophyll, carotenes, and xanthophylls. Since these components have different colors (green, orange, and yellow, respectively) they gave the technique its name. New types of chromatography were developed during the 1930s and 1940s and made the technique useful for many separation processes.
Paper chromatography is a technique that involves placing a small dot or line of sample solution onto a strip of chromatography paper. The paper is placed in a container with a shallow layer of solvent and sealed. As the solvent rises through the paper, it meets the sample mixture, which starts to travel up the paper with the solvent. This paper is made of cellulose, a polar substance, and the compounds within the mixture travel farther if they are non-polar. More polar substances bond with the cellulose paper more quickly, and therefore do not travel as far.
The aim of the current work was the determination and identification of the pigments present in color chocolate candies. Additionally, another purpose was the evaluation of the difference in the chromatographic results, if any, in case of various solvents concentration (CH3CH2OH: 50%, 80%, 100%).