What effect does Chromatography have on a mixture?

Chromatography will separate a mixture into its pure component parts. The different individual pure compounds will move through the mobile phase (solvent) at a different rate, thereby separating out the mixture into its component parts. When you see this happening on a paper, onto which you have dropped the mixture, you can then cut apart the different rings, and using specific solvents that will dissolve the compound(s) you want to collect, you can then make sure the separation is perfect.

There are many types of chromatography processes as well as the paper method you may have come across, there is also gas chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, and high pressure liquid chromatography; the best method would be selected according to the mixture, the context, and the scale of the required process and outcome. Chromatography may be linked to mass spectroscopy, where the individual pure molecules are identified.