The TLC Tool

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The TLC Tool is a drawing tool that allows you to easily depict Thin Layer Chromatography plates within a ChemDraw document. The tool creates a rectangular plate with origin line, solvent front, and one or more lanes. The lanes can be populated with spots of different R_f, size, shape, or color.

To create a TLC plate:

1. Select the TLC tool .

2. Drag in any direction from the point of origin.

The number of lanes is a function of the width of the plate you create.

You can manipulate parts of the plate as follows:

If you want to...	then...
Change the height or width of the plate.	Drag a border or corner. The number of lanes will not change.
Move the origin or solvent front.	Drag the origin or solvent front line.
Change the order of lanes.	Drag the origin tick to the new location.
Add, delete or duplicate a lane.	1. Control-click in the plate. 2. Select the appropriate action. NOTE: You can also delete lanes with the Eraser tool.
Move a spot.	Drag the spot. The Rf displays as you drag.
Duplicate a spot.	Option+Drag the spot.
Delete a spot.	Click on the spot with the Eraser tool. NOTE: If you erase all spots in a lane, the lane will be deleted.
Display the Rf for a spot.	1. Control-click on a spot. 2. Select Show Rf. NOTE: To display Rf for all spots, Control-click in the plate and select Show Rf from the TLC Spots submenu.
Change the style or color of a spot.	1. Control-click on a spot. 2. Choose the style or color. NOTE: To change the style for all spots, Control-click in the plate and choose the style from the TLC Spots submenu.
Enlarge or "smear" a spot.	Shift+drag the spot. When you position the cursor on a spot and press "Shift", the cursor assumes one of three shapes, depending on how it is positioned: 1. Cross arrows -used to enlarge a spot. 2. Horizontal arrow -used to widen a spot. 3. Vertical arrow -used to elongate a spot. NOTE: You may want to zoom in to make positioning easier.