SFC Methods Provide Green Alternative to HPLC

Phenomenex Inc has announced a new line of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC)-certified columns. These new columns bring new phases and selectivity’s to SFC separations, expanding the application of this technology to analytical and preparative applications. Interest in SFC is growing because it offers several advantages over HPLC including improved resolution, faster separations and higher throughput. The technique also reduces the use of toxic solvents, meeting demands for ‘greener’ solutions. SFC columns have application in pharmaceutical and academic research as well as medicinal chemistry.

Phenomenex’s new SFC offerings represent three of the company’s media brands including the Luna® HILIC (hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography) columns with unique, cross-linked diol chemistry for analysis of polar metabolites; Synergi™ Polar-RP (ether-linked phenyl phase) for polar and aromatic analysis; and the new Lux™ chiral phases. “Selectivity choices are important in method development,” explained Terrell Mathews, Strategic Product Manager for Phenomenex. “The same differences in selectivity offered by achiral HPLC columns can now be

evaluated for SFC separations.”