Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC)

Abstract

Usually, elution gradient high performance liquid chromatography using polymeric octadecyl bonded phases is chosen for this kind of separation. Due to the properties of carbon dioxide, low viscosity, high eluting power, separations obtained by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) are generally faster than by liquid solvents. This paper reports the study of the PAH separation by SFC. The effects of the nature and percentage of modifiers, pressure, temperature and the choice of the stationary phase (mono or polyfunctional, high or low bonded density) are discussed. Results show that coupling two different columns is needed to reach the complete separation of the 16 PAHs requires by the standard of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 610). The separation is achieved in 25 minutes with a linear acetonitrile/CO2 mobile phase gradient. Applied to the analysis of soil extracts, this analytical technique is enable to separate numerous other compounds than standard PAHs.