A Modern Apparatus for Performing Flash Chromatography: An Experiment for the Organic Laboratory.

A modern apparatus for performing flash chromatography using commercially available, prepacked silica cartridges has been developed. The key advantage of this system, when compared to traditional flash chromatography, is its use of commercially available silica cartridges, which obviates the need for students to handle silica gel. The apparatus has been tested for its ability to perform separations that are commonly found in organic chemistry teaching laboratories, and a laboratory module that combines the techniques of thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, and flash chromatography is described. The performance of this new chromatography apparatus was comparable to a traditional flash chromatography column.