Zeitschrift für analytische und bioanalytische Techniken

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The Use of supercritical Fluid Chromatography as an Isomeric Separation Technique in Food Analysis

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Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is an advanced technique having wide applications in the research and analytical field. This technique is ideal for the separation of thermally labile substances and isomeric compounds in varied matrixes from nonpolar to polar analytes. The use of carbon dioxide in supercritical fluid chromatography as a mobile phase makes this technique economically cheap and environmentally friendly due to its non-toxic and inert nature. Initially, this technique had limited application in the food matrix because carbon dioxide does not efficiently elute very polar and ionic compounds; however, the use of modifiers like methanol and ethanol was successful in overcoming this challenge. Environmental contaminations from industrial pollutants and various other sources, releasing hazardous chemicals into the food causing bioaccumulation of chemicals and their metabolites. Food as a whole is very complex and analytes of interest are generally present at trace levels. A supercritical fluid chromatography system coupled with the diode-array detector, Flame Ionization Detector, Electron Capture Detector, and mass spectrometer are appropriate for diverse applications in food analysis. The diffusion coefficient of the solute in an SFC was found to be 10 times greater than conventional liquid chromatography techniques. This can be used for the analysis of enantiomeric residues in the food matrix using specific chiral columns. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has been used for the separation of isomeric compounds such as pesticides, synthetic pyrethroids, and insecticides in various food matrices. SFC has advantages over other techniques due to its higher productivity and better results in terms of chromatographic parameters such as better peak resolution, higher sensitivity, and highest peak separation of isomeric compounds, etc. This cost-effective and less hazardous technique has promising results in the analysis of food.