Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Biomed. Chromatogr. 20: 1126 (2006)DOI: 10.1002/bmc

1126 Chen Anjia et al.ORIGINAL RESEARCH BOOK REVIEW

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

BIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHYBiomed. Chromatogr. 20: 1126 (2006)

Book review

Preparative Layer Chromatography: ChromatographicScience Series, Volume 95, edited by TERESAKOWALSKA and JOSEPH SHERMA. Taylor &Francis, Boca Raton, FL, 2006, US$169.95, ISBN: 0-8493-4039-X.

The book provides a comprehensive practical source ofinformation in the field of preparative layer chromato-graphy (PLC). PLC came out of classical TLC techniqueand was first reported in 1962 in Nature. Although in1962 Stahl had recommended micro PLC with a thick-ness of 0.5 and 0.7 mm, today it has reached to 2 mmlayer thickness for increased loading capacity. Commer-cially a number of preparative plates with silica gel,alumina, cellulose, C8 or C18 bonded silica gel or othersorbents are also available now. The book is organizedin two parts. The first eight chapters cover the theoryand updated procedures of PLC. The second part, com-prising Chapters 9–16, includes application to severalselected most important compound classes and sampletypes. The topics covered clearly show the versatilityand wide use of PLC at the current time.

Chapters on sorbents and pre-coated layers, selectionand optimization of mobile phase, sample applicationand chromatogram development are very well organ-ized and documented. Separation science remains thenecessary tool in the area of chiral separations tochemical science and particularly the pharmaceuticalindustry. There appear to be few reports on chiralseparation using PLC and thus no mention in the book.Nevertheless, the book is likely to provide varioustouching points for those having experience of and alsothe materials for preparative enantioseparation.

It can be said without exaggeration that a largenumber of laboratories worldwide, both in academiaand industry, are extensively using planar chromato-graphy, especially TLC, and thus this first book onPLC would be valuable for scientists with experiencein separation science. The considerable introductoryand background information would also make the bookappropriate for the relatively inexperienced. Twenty-seven authors have contributed to the 16 chapters,and each is an expert on the topic, including some ofthe best known workers in the field. The authorshave adopted a style that is convenient and suitable forpresentation of the material as per the requirementsof the chapter, reflecting the authors’ backgroundin the topic as they include a number of detailedmethods for the use of technique along with com-prehensive referencing. PLC has been considered andfound to be the most effective, least expensive andsimplest method for separation and isolation of smallquantities of compounds from plant extracts. Thus,the chapters on natural mixtures, lipids and naturalpigments are especially useful for natural productschemists.

Overall the book is very good practical volume andwould be a useful reference for analytical chemists,chromatographers, synthetic and natural product chem-ists working in academia and industrial outlets.

RAVI BHUSHAN

Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute ofTechnology, Roorkee, India

Published online in Wiley InterScience(www.interscience.wiley.com) [DOI: 10.1002/bmc.711]