 The discovery in 1943 by Martin and Synge of paper chromatography provided for the first time the means of surveying the phenolic constituents of plants and for their separation and identification.There was an explosion of activity in this field after 1945, none more so than that of Bate-Smith and Tony Swain.In 1951, Bate-Smith developed and first described a coloration method to detect the presence of condensed tannins (also called proanthocyanidins) in plant materials.