Today's high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) combines the advantage
of a robust chromatographic separation with high sample throughput and the possibility
of simple coupling to additional analytical techniques, like mass spectrometry (MS)
or bioassays [1]. This increases the amount of information for a fast and efficient
activity-based screening and the identification of raw materials for new cosmetic
products.
Lengthy, time-consuming clean-up processes for first activity tests are avoided by
adapting the activity test directly on the HPTLC plate. Assays for special target
activities can be performed for many samples in parallel after chromatography. The
transfer of discovered active substance zones to the mass spectrometer allows the
direct characterization of the target substance without additional clean-up steps.
Examples for such an “activity based” screening of plant extracts will be presented.
[1] Morlock, G. and Schwack, W. 2010. J. Chromatogr. A, 1217:6600 – 6609
