In the lab, we separated multiple plant pigments that were e…

In the lab, we separated multiple plant pigments that were extracted from spinach leaves. The process that we used to separate the pigment molecules is known as Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). The separation of the pigments is based on the speed that each of the pigments travels relative to the speed of the solvent  – in our case, it was an acetone-ether solution. The speed of the pigments moving across the silica gel plate is dependent upon what chemical aspect of the pigment molecules?