The solvent systems separated fluorene and 9-fluorenone based on their difference in structure and polarity. The petroleum ether solvent system was helpful in washing away anything that was hydrophobic since it’s nonpolar, and it essentially washed off most of the fluorene since fluorene is not as polar as 9-fluorenone. The solvent system with a mixture between Dichloromethane and petroleum ether allowed the yellow band to be eluted off the column because polar solvents such as Dichloromethane are helpful in moving chemical compounds down the column that tend to have a higher polarity, such as 9-fluorenone. Structurally, fluorene does not have a carbonyl functional group and 9-fluorenone does. For this difference, the oxygen that sticks out
