Jennifer L. Lefler | Authors

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is a normal phase separation technique. In SFC, supercritical CO2 in combination with one or more polar organic solvents, most commonly alcohols, is used as the mobile phase. Owing to the lack of intermolecular interactions, supercritical fluid typically possesses lower viscosity and higher diffusivity than those solvents used in traditional high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This allows for higher flow rates, faster analyses, and the use of longer columns for higher chromatographic efficiencies. Initially deemed a niche chromatographic technique for chiral separation, the horizon of SFC applications has rapidly expanded to include achiral analyses of natural products, biodiesel, oligomer, pesticides/herbicides, and peptides. This is due, in part, to the improvements in detection choices and performances for SFC. Evaporative light scattering detectors (ELSDs) coupled with SFC have found wide use in many pharmaceutical and chemical laboratories (1).