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The site has a great write up on Thin Layer Chromatography – here’s some excerpts:

Thin layer chromatography is adsorption chromatography performed on open layers of adsorbent materials supported bon glass plates. This technique combines many of the advantages of paper chromatography with those of column chromatography.

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Superiority of TLC:

The superiority of TLC over paper chromatography lies in the following facts:

• Because of the inorganic nature of the adsorbent (supporting medium), concentrated sulfuric acid spray followed by heating may be used to develop (or locate substances on) the chromatogram by charring and rendering visible any spots of organic nature.
• Moreover, amino acid mixtures, which require 18 hours for separation on paper, require as little as 3 hours using cellulose TLC.
• The advantage of this technique also lies in the choice of the adsorbents which allow separation not possible on paper.

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