We are working on synthesis of metal complexes of hydroxycinnamic acids. Can we differentiate the product formed from the reactant by thin layer chromatography?
In principle there is nothing that prevents using TLC but you have to figure out the exact conditions yourself. Try first with some simple system eg. silica gel plate with 0.5 M ammonium as solvent. Spots may be visible under UV-light.
It seems to be possible but you might need to do various trials of mobile phases and stationary phases. The spots must be visible under UV-Lamp before or after derivatization. I suggest you to use PMA stains.
Moreover, if you want to only DETECT your complex, why not try to get UV Spectra for the reaction mixture and compare it with the UV Spectra of starting material.
Yes we can know from TLC, but the metal complexes are highly polar when compare to ligands so we have to check weather ligands are present or not after the completion of reaction using UV chamber. The metal complex spot always in the base line.