Oxalate-silica gel thin-layer system for free 2-hydroxy fatty acids and for fatty acyl coenzyme A.

The 2-hydroxy fatty acids tend to yield streaks in thin-layer chromatography on silica gel plates. If potassium oxalate is included with binder-free silica gel, good spots are obtained. Similar difficulties are found in paper chromatography of the fatty acid derivatives of coenzyme A, especially with long-chain acids. The same thin-layer system gives good spots with these compounds.