Hoping this is the correct place to ask about TLC?

[Rabidreject]

Hi there guys,
I know I have been asking a lot of questions recently. I’m a newb…iv obviously invested A LOT of money into this hobbit and I have been looking into TLC.
I have ALWAYS said, I do not do chemistry en-mass, to sell - unlike most people on here and so it’s a waiting game when I need something for the lab, however, I have finally reached the stage where I can start exploring some tertiary amines from the 500g tryptamine that I have.
I think TLC is going to be a big factor in me working out if the RXN has completed.

Now my question is this - do I 100%, un-negotiability need a 0.25% NaCIO resolving spray?

I obviously do own bleach as a cleaner, however it obviously has other stuff in and would need to be distilled and I’m guessing that’s going to be an ass due to the fact I’m going to pull all the water with it and won’t know the concentration. I can’t find any pre-made spray obviously.
Can someone explain what the spray actually does? I’v been looking at This REALLY useful info and he says to use a 0.25% sodium hypochlorite solution.
One more question - what do I use as the wick? Will watercolour paper do the trick? Or does it have to be a specific material - it doesn’t really say and is pretty much the only thing it doesn’t tell you.
I obviously don’t have any references due to the fact I am just a dude with no official lab and so their findings are a useful comparative photo, however, I’ll mainly be using it to ascertain the rxn has finished…
Thanks guys!

 

[CCL4 huffer]

firstly how are u gon destill NaClO ? ud just destill the water out and then disociate it basicly just giving u NaCl and clorate. just buy a decently concentrated NaClO solution and dilute it.
its used as a spotter im pretty shure so that u can actualy see the spots.

what do u mean with wick? im guessing u mean the silica plates. no u absolutly cant replace those with water color paper or anything for that matter.
atleast do a little research my man on how it eaven works

also a little tip on the side make shure u dont use eluents where the compounds are too soluble in otherwise the spots will travel up too far.

 

[Rabidreject]

No I don’t mean the plates regarding the ‘wick’ - on the diagram I looked at they had the stationary phase (the silica plates) and the mobile phase (the solvent or mix of) which they then put into a tub and used a ‘wick’ behind the plate but not touching for the solvent to travel up and turn into a gas…maybe I’m confusing the diagram - so you only need to put the pre spotted silica plates into the solvent - making sure the spots don’t touch the solvent and then cover it up so the solvents travel up the silica on the glass?
If i look (photograph) the plates under UV does that mean I don’t need the NaClO? It’s just one more thing to buy and if I don’t need to see the results under normal light does that mean I don’t need it? I should probably just try and see…

 

[HerrHaber]

OK, well the wick is actually nothing but a piece of filter paper on the wall of the jar you perform the TLC and it must touch the solvent and saturate the atmosphere inside with solvent vapors. this is easy to do. Spots should always be applied with a capillary tube. A nail hardening UV lamp is the best substitute for chemicals that could be sprayed and if you get one I'm sure you'll thank me, and it's not that expensive. For example I can't seem to afford a pack of plates and at the moment I have something going on and don't even know what should be the proper timing since I have no reference. NaOCl is easy to find without perfume and other additives but in aqueous solution.