Ask the Editor: Advantages of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) for Preparative Separations

A reader recently asked:

What are the major advantages of using supercritical fluid chroamtography for preparative separations?

The major advantages of preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) include separation speed; the ability to achieve chiral separations; lower viscosity of the mobile phases, which allows high flow rates with acceptable pressure drops and results in higher productivity; reduction of solvent use of as much as 90% compared with liquid chromatography; and ease of processing collected sample fractions.

The "green chemistry" aspects and other advantages of the technique were discussed by Christopher Welch and colleagues in an installment of LCGC's "Column Watch" column (1). Preparative SFC equipment is manufactured by companies such as Jasco (Easton, Maryland), Mettler-Toledo (Columbus, Ohio), Novasep (Boothwyn, Pennsylvania), and Thar Technologies (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). </p>

(1) C.J. Welch et al., LCGC 23(1), 16 (2005).

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