The software controlling an automated system will coordinate the components, allow a user to only collect the fractions that contain their target compound (assuming they are detectable on the system's detector) and help the user to find the resulting purified material within the fraction collector. The software will also save the resulting chromatograph from the process for archival and/or later recall purposes.
A representative example of column chromatography as part of an undergraduate laboratory exercise is the separation of three components (out of 28) in the oil of spearmint: carvone, limonene and dehydrocarveol.[6] A microscale setup consisting of a Pasteur pipette as column with silica gel stationary phase can suffice. The starting eluent is hexane and solvent polarity is increased during the process by adding ethyl acetate.