A novel spray reagent for phospholipid detection.

Ammonium pentachlorooxomolybdate in a solution of 7-9 N H2SO4 was found to be an excellent spray reagent for the specific detection of phospholipids on thin-layer chromatograms. It is better than the usual molybdenum blue reagent due to its greater sensitivity and its ability to eliminate the problem of the development of background blue color on prolonged exposure.