For 10 points, name this powerful class of techniques for separating mixtures.
In one form of this technique, analytes are said to elute from the apparatus. In a modern version of that form, liquids are forced through a sorbent column at high pressure. One common setup applies it to a gas before performing mass spectrometry. The retention factor measures the relative distance traveled by an analyte in one variety of this technique, in which a thin adsorbent layer often made of silica acts as a stationary phase. Another variety of it was seminally used to separate plant pigments for the first time; in that variety, various components of a plant extract rise up a paper at different speeds. For 10 points, name this powerful class of techniques for separating mixtures.
In one form of this technique, analytes are said to elute from the apparatus.
chromatography [accept more specific answers, including thin-layer chromatography, paper chromatography]