Column chromatography
It is to separate compounds and obtain physically separated substances and have them in quantity.
In column chromatography, a mixture of molecules is separated based on their differentials partitioning between a mobile phase and a stationary phase.
Click here to watch an animation of the chromatographic separation.
Thin-layer chromatography
Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a chromatography technique used to separate non-volatile mixtures.
Thin-layer chromatography is performed on a sheet of an inert substrate such as glass, plastic, or aluminium foil, which is coated with a thin layer of adsorbent material, usually silica gel, aluminium oxide, or cellulose.
We can see the steps of the thin-layer chromatography in the following image.
After the previous preparation, there is the mobile phase in which it is used a single solvent. The role of the solvent in column chromatography is to separate the mixture into different zones, to introduce the mixture into the column and to remove the pure components of each separated bands as elements.