Paper chromatography of methyl esters of porphyrins.

A micromethod for detecting and determining various porphyrins extracted from biological materials, especially nervous tissues (I), is needed. The technique of filter paper chromatography by Consden, Gordon, and Martin (a), with modification by Williams and Kirby’s capillary ascent (3), has been applied to the problem in this study. The recent paper by Nicholas and Rimington (4) on partition chromatography of porphyrins prompts us to record our results on paper chromatography of the methyl esters of porphyrins.’ By using the double developing technique described below, we have been able to distinguish between esters of coproporphyrin I and III and those of protoporphyrin IX and mesoporphyrin IX respectively. Procedure and Results