Paper chromatography is an analytical method used to separate colored chemicals or substances.

Polar water molecules are held inside the void space of the cellulose network of the paper.

This is useful for separating complex mixtures of compounds having similar polarity, for example, amino acids.

A solvent in chromatography is the liquid the paper is placed in, and the solute is the ink which is being separated.

Paper chromatography is one method for testing the purity of compounds and identifying substances.

Paper chromatography is a useful technique because it is relatively quick and requires only small quantities of material.

The unequal solubility causes the various color molecules to leave solution at different places as the solvent continues to move up the paper.

Both descending and ascending paper chromatography are used for the separation of organic and inorganic substances.

The discovery of paper chromatography in 1943 by Martin and Synge provided, for the first time, the means of surveying constituents of plants and for their separation and identification.

[3] Erwin Chargaff credits in Weintraub's history of the man the 1944 article by Consden, Gordon and Martin.