When you observe a leaf in the summer, you will notice that it appears green. What you see is the pigment chlorophyll, which ranges from the colors blue to olive-green. What you don't see are the Caretenoid and Xanthophyll pigments. These pigments consist of yellow and orange pigments. In this lab, chromatography paper, isopropyl, and ethyl alcohol were used to extract pigments from spinach leaves.

The leaves were boiled with the alcohol and isopropyl. A strip of chromatography paper was dipped into the liquefied solution and set to dry. In minutes, the strip was loaded with marks of different color lines. These lines were the separated pigments. Next, the Rf value was calculated. The Rf value is the speed at which the pigments moved over the paper compared to the rate at which the solvent moves. To determine the Rf value, the distance moved by the substances is divided by the solvent.