Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC)

In supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) the mobile phase consists of carbon dioxide (CO₂) above or near its critical state (temperature >31.1 °C and pressure >73.8 bar) in combination with an organic modifier such as methanol. This relatively non-polar mobile phase can be used with stationary phases typically used in normal or reversed phase HPLC, and the low viscosity and high diffusivity of supercritical CO₂ relative to the solvents typically used in HPLC translates into much faster separations. Typically SFC columns can be used in two modes:

• Achiral
• Chiral