ABSTRACT
Thin layer chromatography (TLC) and, if modern plates are used, the high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) are versatile methods for the quantication of pharmaceutically active compounds in pharmaceutical preparations. Both methods work in parallel and allow simultaneous separations of different samples to take place. The big advantage in comparison to other separation methods is that HPTLC and TLC work with disposable plates. Therefore the pretreatment procedure can be often reduced to just a sample dissolving step. This helps to reduce the uncertainty in the assay. In this chapter we will no longer distinguish between TLC and HPTLC. HPTLC is the modern version of TLC and it is strongly recommended to use HPTLC plates for modern separations.
