The Historical Development of the Method

Abstract

It may at first cause surprise that the principle of thin-layer chromatography was described as long as 25 years ago, yet has become of general value only in the last few yearsl. The first publication in this connection came out during the period of peak success of the Tswett column chromatography. Constant efforts were being made even at that time to achieve “micro-chromatography”. Zechmeisteit [781] summed up the situation in 1938 as follows: “The chief problem is not the development of suitable apparatus (referring to column chromatography) but the precise identification of the adsorbed substances”. This problem was solved by the change-over from the “closed” to the “open” column, i. e., to the thin layer. This formulation, dating from 1958, demonstrated the general simplicity and wide applicability of thin-layer chromatography [661].