Device for collecting and transferring particulate material

Claim 1

A device for rapidly collecting and transferring a fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material from a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography without cross contamination, which comprises in combination (a) a housing, open at both ends, (b) means affixed to said housing for connecting said housing to a vacuum source, (c) an appending member affixed to and having fluid-flow communication with said housing, (d) a porous member fitted into the non-affixed end of said appending member, the diameter of said appending member in (c) and said porous member being small enough to allow spot collection of a fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material from a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography without cross contamination but large enough to minimize the number of collections necessary to collect and transfer all of said fraction, (e) a plunger member slidably mounted in said housing, the slidable movement of which alternately opens and closes fluid-flow communication between the vacuum source and said porous member, and (f) a porous filamentary filter having a diameter slightly greater than said porous member and detachably adhering to said porous member by means of said vacuum.

Claim 2

A device for rapidly collecting and transferring a fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material from a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography without cross contamination, which comprises in combination (a) a housing, open at both ends, (b) means affixed to said housing for connecting said housing to a vacuum source, (c) an appending member affixed to and having fluid-flow communication with said housing, (d) a porous member fitted into the non-affixed end of said appending member, the diameter of said appending member in (c) and said porous member being small enough to allow spot collection of a fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material from a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography without cross contamination but large enough to minimize the number of collections necessary to collect and transfer all of said fraction, (e) a plunger member slidably mounted in said housing, the slidable movement of which alternately opens and closes fluid-flow communication between the vacuum source and said porous member, and (f) a porous filamentary filter having a diameter slightly greater than said porous member and detachably adhering to said porous member by means of said vacuum.

Claim 6

A method for rapidly collecting and transferring one fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material from a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography without cross contamination, which comprises the steps of (a) applying a vacuum to one side of a porous member, (b) contacting the other side of the porous member with a porous filamentory filter causing the filter to adhere to the porous member, (c) contacting the porous filamentary filter adhering to the porous member with a fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material in a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography, causing the material to adhere to the porous filamentary filter, (d) transferring the porous filamentary filter with the fraction of particulate material adhering thereto, and (e) releasing the vacuum causing the fraction of particular material and the porous filamentary filter to be disengaged.

Claim 7

A method for rapidly collecting and transferring one fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material from a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography without cross contamination, which comprises the steps of (a) applying a vacuum to one side of a porous member, (b) contacting the other side of the porous member with a porous filamentory filter causing the filter to adhere to the porous member, (c) contacting the porous filamentary filter adhering to the porous member with a fraction of adsorbent chromatographic particulate material in a plurality of fractions obtained in thin-layer chromatography, causing the material to adhere to the porous filamentary filter, (d) transferring the porous filamentary filter with the fraction of particulate material adhering thereto, and (e) releasing the vacuum causing the fraction of particular material and the porous filamentary filter to be disengaged.