Thin‐layer chromatographic separations of seed oil unsaponifiables from fourSesamum species

A new, two‐dimensional thin‐layer chromatographic system was established to provide good separation of the unsaponifiable fractions from the seed oils of three wildSesamum species, [S. alatum, Thonn.;S. radiatum, Schum and Thonn.; andS. angustifolium, (Oliv.) Engl.] and of the cultivatedS. indicum, L. The system utilizes silica gel plates and n‐hexane/diethyl ether (7:3, v/v) and chloroform/diethyl ether (9:1, v/v) as mobile phases in the first and second directions, respectively. The system could be used for qualitative studies and as a preparative technique for subsequent quantitative gas chromatographic separations in chemotaxonomic and related studies onSesamum spp.