Review: Isomer Separation, Chiral Resolution, and Structure Elucidation Analyses Are the Future of Analytical Supercritical Fluid Chromatography—Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

In 1822, almost 200 year ago, Baron Charles Cagniard de Latour (1777-1859) discovered the critical phenomena or critical state [1] [2]. At that time, it was described as a curiosity. However, it is now used as an advanced extraction and analytical technology in industry and research. Extraction with supercritical fluids (SFs) was welcome from the very beginning. In the present paper, the application to chromatography of the critical phenomena of compressed gases or overheated liquids as supercritical fluids will be discussed. Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) received an uneasy welcome, mainly because of the lack of commercially available analytical instruments. Even today, only a small number of industrial companies are manufacturing SFC instrumentation. A very small spectrum of columns is manufactured specially for SFC. SFC is not accepted by Pharmacopeia committees for the analysis of drugs and medical forms to the same extent as Gas Chromatography, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography or even Thin Layer Chromatography. The present status and future perspectives for SFC will be discussed.