Separation of NorAdrenalin and Adrenalin

Abstract

A METHOD of separating these two substances on paper chromatograms, using phenol as solvent, has been described earlier¹. No satisfactory second solvent, enabling a two-way chromatogram to be performed, was found at the time, and it was necessary to use the substances as hydrochlorides, the free bases being insufficiently stable. Movement in n-butanol was very slight. More recently, von Euler and Hamberg² have reported separation of adrenalin and l-nor-adrenalin, using n-butanol saturated, with N hydrochloric acid. Their results are recorded in a photograph of a small part of the chromatogram and no data are given for the r_f values or the time necessary to obtain separation. On repeating their experiment, we found that movement was very little greater than in our original n-butanol – water system, and that, to obtain separation, the chromatogram had to be run for forty-eight hours or longer, allowing the solvent to drip from the end of the paper. It was, therefore, not possible to determine r_f values.