Forecasting structure of natural products through color formation process by thin layer chromatography.

With booming of computer technology, it is feasible to quantitatively extract valuable information from readily available image of objects, which dramatically reduces the cost and improves the efficiency. In this work, a structural classification method, based on data extracted from color formation process on thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates through computer processing, was established for natural products. Representative natural products exhibited good clustering and separation according to the extracted color feature, and structure of natural products can be classified by the distribution region in the color system. This method provides structural information for typical types of natural products directly from the formed color on TLC, which is very efficient and make portable device-based structure analysis of natural products possible. In addition, a general mechanism of color formation was proposed. This method is free from special instrument, high-throughput, and would facilitate large-scale screening of bioactives from natural sources.