Fluid chromatography

The most common mobile phase for supercritical fluid chromatography is CO2. Its low critical temperature, 31 °C, and critical pressure, 72.9 atm, are relatively easy to achieve and maintain. Although supercritical CO2 is a good solvent for nonpolar organics, it is less useful for polar solutes. The addition of an organic modifier, such as methanol, improves the mobile phase s elution strength. Other common mobile phases and their critical temperatures and pressures are listed in Table 12.7. 

Supercritical fluid chromatography has found many applications in the analysis of polymers, fossil fuels, waxes, drugs, and food products. Its application in the analysis of triglycerides is shown in Figure 12.38. 

Example of the application of supercritical fluid chromatography to the analysis of triglycerides. (Chromatogram courtesy of Alltech Associates, Inc. Deerfield, IL). 

SFC/MS. supercritical fluid chromatography and mass spectrometry used as a combined technique SID. surface-induced dissociation (or decomposition)... 

Jinno, K., Hyphenated Techniques in Supercritical Fluid Chromatography and Extraction, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1992. 

INFRARED TECHNOLOGY AND RAMAN SPECTHOSCOPY - INFRARED TECHNOLOGY] (Vol 14) Sfc. See Supercritical fluid chromatography. 

ANALYTICALTffiTHODS - HYPHENATED INSTRUTffiNTS] (Vol 2) Supercritical fluid chromatography... 

The use of separation techniques, such as gel permeation and high pressure Hquid chromatography interfaced with sensitive, silicon-specific aas or ICP detectors, has been particularly advantageous for the analysis of siUcones in environmental extracts (469,483—486). Supercritical fluid chromatography coupled with various detection devices is effective for the separation of siUcone oligomers that have molecular weights less than 3000 Da. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-sims) is appHcable up to 10,000 Da (487). 

Mixtures can be identified with the help of computer software that subtracts the spectra of pure compounds from that of the sample. For complex mixtures, fractionation may be needed as part of the analysis. Commercial instmments are available that combine ftir, as a detector, with a separation technique such as gas chromatography (gc), high performance Hquid chromatography (hplc), or supercritical fluid chromatography (96,97). Instmments such as gc/ftir are often termed hyphenated instmments (98). Pyrolyzer (99) and thermogravimetric analysis (tga) instmmentation can also be combined with ftir for monitoring pyrolysis and oxidation processes (100) (see Analytical methods, hyphenated instruments). 

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography. Supercritical fluid chromatography (sfc) combines the advantages of gc and hplc in that it allows the use of gc-type detectors when supercritical fluids are used instead of the solvents normally used in hplc. Carbon dioxide, -petane, and ammonia are common supercritical fluids (qv). For example, carbon dioxide (qv) employed at 7.38 MPa (72.9 atm) and 31.3°C has a density of 448 g/mL. 

Cyclopentadiene oligomers up to octamers can be effectively analy2ed and quantified by supercritical fluid chromatography using a chemically bonded methyl siUcone capillary column. 

T. L. Chester, J. D. Pinkston and D. E. Raynie, Superaitical fluid chromatography and exti action . Anal. Chem. 70 301R-319R (1998). 

M. E. Eee and K. E. Mai kides, Analytical Supercritical Fluid Chromatography and Extraction, Qiromatography Conferences , Provo, USA (1990). 

H. Daimon and Y. Hirata, Direct coupling of capillary supercritical fluid chromatography with superaitical fluid extraction using modified carbon dioxide , J. High Resolut. Chromatogr. 17 809-813 (1994). 

T. A. Berger, Practical advantages of packed column supercritical fluid chromatography in supporting combinations chemistiy , in Unified Chromatography, J. P. Parcher and T. L. Chester (Eds), ACS Symposium Series 748, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, pp. 203-233 (2000). 

T. L. Chester and J. D. Pinkston, Pressure-regulating fluid interface and phase behavior considerations in the coupling of packed-column supercritical fluid chromatography with low-pressure detectors , ]. Chromatogr. 807 265-273 (1998). 

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been extensively used for the extraction of volatile components such as essential oils, flavours and aromas from plant materials on an industrial as well as an analytical scale (61). The extract thus obtained is usually analysed by GC. Off-line SFE-GC is frequently employed, but on-line SEE-GC has also been used. The direct coupling of SEE with supercritical fluid chromatography (SEC) has also been successfully caried out. Coupling SEE with SEC provides several advantages for the separation and detection of organic substances low temperatures can be used for both SEE and SEC, so they are well suited for the analysis of natural materials that contain compounds which are temperature-sensitive, such as flavours and fragrances. 

A method which uses supercritical fluid/solid phase extraction/supercritical fluid chromatography (SE/SPE/SEC) has been developed for the analysis of trace constituents in complex matrices (67). By using this technique, extraction and clean-up are accomplished in one step using unmodified SC CO2. This step is monitored by a photodiode-array detector which allows fractionation. Eigure 10.14 shows a schematic representation of the SE/SPE/SEC set-up. This system allowed selective retention of the sample matrices while eluting and depositing the analytes of interest in the cryogenic trap. Application to the analysis of pesticides from lipid sample matrices have been reported. In this case, the lipids were completely separated from the pesticides. 

E. Ibanez, J. Palacios and G. Reglero, Analysis of tocopherols by on-line coupling supercritical fluid extraction-superaitical fluid chromatography , ]. Microcolumn Sep. 11 605-611 (1999). 

SUPERCRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTION COUPLED WITH SUPERCRITICAL FLUID CHROMATOGRAPHY... 

An on-line supercritical fluid chromatography-capillary gas chromatography (SFC-GC) technique has been demonstrated for the direct transfer of SFC fractions from a packed column SFC system to a GC system. This technique has been applied in the analysis of industrial samples such as aviation fuel (24). This type of coupled technique is sometimes more advantageous than the traditional LC-GC coupled technique since SFC is compatible with GC, because most supercritical fluids decompress into gases at GC conditions and are not detected by flame-ionization detection. The use of solvent evaporation techniques are not necessary. SFC, in the same way as LC, can be used to preseparate a sample into classes of compounds where the individual components can then be analyzed and quantified by GC. The supercritical fluid sample effluent is decompressed through a restrictor directly into a capillary GC injection port. In addition, this technique allows selective or multi-step heart-cutting of various sample peaks as they elute from the supercritical fluid... 

Figure 12.20 SFC-GC analysis of a sample of aviation fuel (a) SFC separation into two peaks (b and c) coixesponding GC ttaces of the respective peaks (flame-ionization detection used throughout). Reprinted from Journal of High Resolution Chromatography, 10, J. M. Levy et ah, On-line multidimensional supercritical fluid chromatography/capillary gas chromatography , pp. 337-341, 1987, with permission from Wiley-VCH.

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