I need to extract chlorophyll as it is a crucial material for my research. I tried doing leaf chromatography using rubbing alcohol, but now I have no clue how to separate the chlorophyll from the alcohol.
Fresh spinach leaves were first separated and washed with cold water. Then freeze-dried spinach leaves (50 g) were crushed and extracted with four 25ml portions of acetone and concentrated to about 25 ml and washed with petroleum ether (60-80 °C), (30 ml). Passing pet-ether solution through the column will give green colored extract .Removal of solvent under vacuum gives chlorophyll as a green pigment.
The leaves I'm extracting the chlrophyll from are papaya and avocado leaves.
The fastest and easiest way is to extract using Dimethylformamide which gives you a very stable extract if kept in the dark without the need to centrifugate. Alan Wellburn wrote a good paper on this subject (1994).
DMF is however toxic so working in a fume hood is advised.
Best of luck
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