bliindsniper

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have a few things to add, the mixtures i am attempting to separate and analyze will have around 13 compounds max. I am looking into a flash chromatography setup with a uv vis detector and an auto fraction collector mainly because its more compact and easier to manage and controll than a hplc device. Do you guys think this would provide the same seperation as hplc? An example of what im looking at is this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Analogix-Intelliflash-280-Flash-Chromatography-System-/221212944048?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338151a6b0 Not this exact one of course but it is just an example. Then after i got the fractions i am leading to analyzing them with nmr.

Thanks everyone for the answers. My goal is to isolate medicinal compounds out of things like turkey tail mushrooms and things of that nature. The samples i will be testing will be quite pure already from various extraction methods. I just need to analyze them to see what compounds exactly the extracts contain. As for the issue of isolation i will probably end up doing something like hplc with a fraction collector. I am open to ideas when it comes to this because hplc spectrometers don't seem to be able to divide a liquid into fractions based on each of its individual rf values very accurately What i mean by that is i am not aware of a way that a hplc device with maby a uv detector could rotate the test tubes it is emptying into based on what the rf value is or what the uv is scanning Most fraction collectors seem to changes test tubes solely on the volume of liquid collected. Like in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQJPhskzzak which means you may get 1 or 2 pure test tubes but the others will contain different gradients of contamination

What is the best method for getting an idea of what compounds are contained in a plant extract. hplc is good but it must be followed my mass spectrometry which is far too expensive for me. Tlc is decent but if two compounds have similar rf values it can have errors. Ftir seems to be the only way to go if you want to know all compounds contained within a given mixture. Any recommendations will be helpfull.

Hey everyone i have a question, I have an oil obtained by soxhlet extraction using ethanol. What would i do to obtain crystals out of this oil. Keep in mind the crystals will be intended for consumption so i cannot use any harsh ingredients.