The Column September 2025: SFC Europe 2025

Chromatographers worldwide can look forward to SFC Europe 2025—the 19th International Conference on Packed Column Supercritical Fluid Chromatography and Related Techniques—to be held in Basel, Switzerland, on October 5–7, 2025. The conference has been held annually in the USA, Europe, or Asia. Basel has been chosen as this year’s European location because of its central location in Europe, ease of access, and excellent accommodation. An attendee from SFC 2024 says, “As ever, the meeting was informative and an excellent opportunity for supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) users to exchange ideas and experiences. I look forward to attending many more.”

The conference kicks off with a full-day short course on SFC on October 5, 2025. The course will be of interest to scientists with little SFC experience, as well as those who are more experienced in the field. Past short courses have proven to be a valuable introduction to SFC for experienced separation scientists who are looking to expand their knowledge base beyond high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC). The course will be taught by Larry Miller (associate director, Discovery Analytical, Novartis), J. David Pinkston (SuperSep Consulting, LLC), and Caroline West (professor of analytical chemistry, University of Orleans, France), with over 70+ years of combined experience in SFC.

Two days of oral and poster presentations will follow on October 6 and 7. Invited speakers include: Takeshi Bamba (Lipidome Analysis by SFC–MS, Kyushu University, Japan), Julie Herniman (Biodiesel and the Need for SFC, University of Southampton, UK), Jennifer Kingston (SFC Purification Using Automated Processing and Machine Learning, AstraZeneca, UK), Lucie Nováková (TBD, Charles University, Czech Republic), Maria Parr (Lipidome Analysis Using SFC–MS, Frei Universität Berlin, Germany), and John Reilly (Rocket into Chiral Space, Novartis, Switzerland). Fiveteen other speakers from industry and academia, as well as poster sessions and workshops, will flesh out the two-day program.

The advantages of SFC are well known to those in pharmaceutical research and development. Indeed, many of the presentations will be focused on the pharmaceutical and the biological applications of lipidomics. However, presentation topics will range far beyond pharmaceutical: from fundamental studies of SFC and SFE, to environmental analysis, flavors and fragrances, doping analysis, personal care products, food and beverage analysis, natural products, and forensic science. In fact, another attendee of SFC 2024 stated, “Great that the conference program includes many areas of SFC use, not just pharmaceutical.”

In addition to scientific content, SFC 2025 will also include social events where attendees can rub elbows with leading experts in the field. Attendees will also enjoy vendor exhibits and workshops where they will learn about the latest advances in SFC and SFE equipment and SFC stationary phases.

Why should you attend SFC 2025 Europe? You’ll meet with separation scientists who have adopted supercritical fluids in a wide range of application areas, not only because of environmental and cost-saving advantages, but also because SFC and SFE provide technical advantages over conventional techniques. In SFC, lower viscosities and higher diffusion coefficients allow more rapid separations at equivalent theoretical plates and/or longer columns (higher resolutions) at equivalent separation times. SFC also provides dramatically different selectivities compared to reversed-phase HPLC. Lastly, removing the mobile phase in preparative separations is far easier with SFC. These advantages have led to the worldwide adoption of SFC in preparative chiral and achiral separations.

Come explore the world of SFC with experts from across the world. All conference information, including venue and accommodation, can be found at https://www.greenchemistrygroup.org/