Figure 2: Image of a developed (normal phase) TLC plate subsequent to staining with primuline [8]. CHCl3, ethanol, water, and triethylamine (35:35:7:35, v/v/v/v) were used as the solvent system. In lane 1 an equimolar mixture of PC 2 × 12:0, PC 2 × 18:0, and PC 2 × 22:0 was used, while lane 2 corresponds to PC isolated from hen egg yolk. While the individual PC species of the artificial mixture can be clearly differentiated (due to their Rf differences), the PC species from the biological material result in a rather broad spot. However, different PC species can be detected within this spot when MALDI MS is used (spectra not shown). To our best knowledge the chain length of the fatty acyl residues has the most pronounced impact on the chromatographic properties.