Fibre optical scanning with high resolution in thin-layer chromatography

In this paper a high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) scanner is presented in which a special fibre arrangement is used as HPTLC plate scanning interface. Measurements are taken with a set of 50 fibres at a distance of 400 to 500 mum above the HPTLC plate. Spatial resolutions on the HPTLC plate of better than 160 mum are possible. It takes less than 2 min to scan 450 spectra simultaneously in a range of 198 to 610 nm. The basic improvement of the item is the use of highly transparent glass fibres which provide excellent transmission at 200 nm and the use of a special fibre arrangement for plate illumination and detection. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.