Overview of the Analytical Lifecycle of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Methods

In recent times, the overall interest over Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) is truly growing within various domains but especially for pharmaceutical analysis. However, in the best of our knowledge modern SFC is not yet applied for drug quality control in the daily routine framework. Among the numerous reported SFC methods, none of them could be found to fully satisfy to all steps of the analytical method lifecycle. Thereby, the present contribution aims to provide an overview of the current and past achievements related to SFC techniques, with a targeted attention to this lifecycle and its successive steps. The included discussions were therefore structured accordingly and emphasizing the analytical method lifecycle in accord with the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH). Recent and important scientific outputs in the field of analytical SFC, as well as instrumental evolution, qualification strategies, method development methodologies and discussions on the topic of method validation are reviewed.

Chiral Separation of Ibuprofen by Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

The separation method using chiral stationary phase （CSP） for the preparation of enantioselective compound was widely used. In this work, supercritical fluid chromatography（SFC） was proposed to resolve the chiral mixtures. To determine the optimum operating conditions for the chiral separation of the racemic ibuprofen, the retention factors and resolutions with the change in pressure, temperature and the content of IPA （%, by volume） in supercritical CO2 were investigated. Experiments showed that the retention factor decreased with the increase of pressure and decrease in temperature. The retention factor was also influenced by the content of IPA in mobile phase, as the content of IPA in the supercritical fluid increased, the retention factor decreased. The resolution of the enantiomers became worse with the increase of IPA in the supercritical fluid. Through optimizing the experimental conditions, a SFC procedure with 13MPa, 311.15K and 4% IPA in CO2 was obtained. The peak shape of the enantiomers was symmetric with supercritical fluid chromatography when compared to the asymmetric peak shape obtained by the conventional liquid chromatography. This work demonstrated that the developed supercritical fluid chromatography procedure was suitable for the chiral separation of ibuprofen enantiomers.

Fast analysis of derivatives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil by ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography after supercritical fluid extraction enrichment

An efficient and environment-friendly method for simultaneous determination of 13 typical derivatives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon(PAH)in petroleum-polluted soil with nitro-,oxy-and alkylfunctional group was developed using supercritical fluid extraction(SFE)followed by ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography(UHPSFC).Parameters of UHPSFC,including type of stationary phase and mobile phase modifiers,gradient elution process,backpressure,column temperature,and the flow rate of mobile phase,were systematically optimized,achieving a fast separation within4.2 min.Limits of detection(LOD)were 0.005-0.1μg mL^(-1)or 0.1-2.0 ng g^(-1),respectively,with a good repeatability(RSD<5.0%).Before UHPSFC-PDA analysis,the PAH-derivatives in soil samples were effectively enriched in 15.0 min using SFE with an online carbon nanotubes(CNTs)collection trap.The soil samples were analyzed by the proposed method and the results were verified by GC-MS.Thus,SFE equipped with an online CNTs trap followed by UHPSFC-PDA analysis,which only consumed about2.0 mL organic solvent for a whole run,has been demonstrated to be an efficient way for screening and quantitative analysis of trace-level PAH-derivatives in soil samples.

Simultaneous enantioseparation and simulation studies of atenolol,metoprolol and propranolol on Chiralpak^■IG column using supercritical fluid chromatography

Enantioseparation of threeβ-blockers,i.e.,atenolol,metoprolol and propranolol,was studied on amylose tris(3-chloro-5-methylphenylcarbamate)immobilized chiral stationary phase using supercritical fluid chromatography(SFC).The effect of organic modifiers(methanol,isopropanol and their mixture),column temperature and back pressure on chiral separation ofβ-blockers was evaluated.Optimum chromatographic separation with respect to resolution,retention,and analysis time was achieved using a mixture of CO_(2) and 0.1%isopropyl amine in isopropanol:methanol(50:50,V/V),in 75:25(V/V)ratio.Under the optimized conditions,the resolution factors(Rs)and separation factors(a)were greater than3.0 and 1.5,respectively.Further,with increase in temperature(25-45℃)and pressure(100-150 bars)there was corresponding decrease in retention factors(k),a and Rs.However,a reverse trend(a and Rs)was observed for atenolol with increase in temperature.The thermodynamic data from van’t Hoff plots revealed that the enantioseparation was enthalpy driven for metoprolol and propranolol while entropy driven for atenolol.To understand the mechanism of chiral recognition and the elution behavior of the enantiomers,molecular docking studies were performed.The binding energies obtained from simulation studies were in good agreement with the elution order found experimentally and also with the free energy values.The method was validated in the concentration range of 0.5-10μg/m L for all the enantiomers.The limit of detection and limit of quantitation ranged from 0.126 to 0.137μg/m L and 0.376-0.414μg/m L,respectively.The method was used successfully to analyze these drugs in pharmaceutical preparations.

Rapid Separation of Five Cyclosporin Analogs by Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in cyclic peptides due to their therapeutic advantages in terms of potency, permeability, proteolytic stability, and unique selectivity relative to traditional smaller drug molecules. Cyclosporin is a family of cyclic peptides widely used as autoimmune suppression agents. Cyclosporin analogs consist of eleven amino acids with the main difference lying at the side chain of its amino acid residues. In this study, a single step separation method was developed utilizing Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) to resolve five naturally occurring cyclosporin analogs (Cyclosporin A, B, C, D, and H) on a bare silica-packed column. The optimized method involved use of ethanol-modified carbon dioxide as mobile phase on a bare silica column at 80 °C and UV detection at 220 nm. Although column temperature and back pressure generally had insignificant effect on SFC separation, it was found in our study that increasing temperature and pressure greatly improved peak shape and resolution.

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography and Its Application in Lipid Isomer Separation

Supercritical fluid chromatography(SFC),which uses supercritical fluid with higher diffusivity and lower viscosity than liquid as its mobile phase,can provide fast,green,high-throughput and good performance methods for the analysis of complicated samples.It is an advantageous alternative for the separation of polar and nonpolar compounds,and even chiral isomers.As an important constituent of living organisms,lipids and the related lipidomics researches have attracted dramatic attention during the past years.The separation and identification of lipids and lipid isomers are of great significance and remain challenging.In this mini-review,the principle of SFC and its applications in lipid isomer separation are summarized.

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with supercritical fluid extraction and chromatography（SFE／SFC）

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Retention behaviour of carboxylic acid methyl esters in supercritical fluid chromatography

The study on retention behavior in supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is necessary to understand the mechanism of the various interactions in SFC. The retention of SFC in carboxylic acid methyl ester/polymethylsiloxane/CO2 system was studied systematically and the retention behavior of this kind of compounds under various typical operation conditions was described using the method of an alternative unified theory of chromatographic retention. The results illustrated that expression: Ink.= a + b/T + cp + dp/T + ep2/T can be used to describe quantitatively the retention behavior of carboxylic acid methyl ester/polymethylsiloxane/CO2 system in the ranges of reduced density from 0.549 to 1.411. It was also found that the entropy of solute in stationary phase is dependent on the density of supercritical fluid (SF) under typical operating conditions of SFC.

A crosslinked chiral stationary phase for the separation of enantiomers by gas and supercritical fluid chromatography

Crosslinking experin(?)tnts for the chiral stationary phase OV-225-L-Val-t-butylamide within both fused silica and glass capillary columns have been carried out.Amino acid enantiomers were separated on crosslinked columns by、both GC and SFC methods.In SFC,the α values of amino acid enantiomers are independent of the density of the mobile phase,and they are hig her than those obtained by GC for the tested enantiomers with the same column due to the lower column tempera- ture used in SFC.

Separation of substituted phenylpiperazine derivatives with immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases by supercritical and subcritical fluid chromatography

Six newly synthesized racemic 1-（substituted phenyl）-4-[3-（indole-4-yl-oxy）-2-hydroxypropyl]-piperazine 1-6 were successfully resolved by carbon dioxide supercritical fluid chromatography （SFC） on an analytical scale column packed with immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases （CSPs）. We found that separation on the Chiralpak IA CSP was superior to the other two immobilized CSPs （Chiralpak IB and Chiralpak IC）, and isopropanol （IPA） was a superior modifier compared to the other five solvents including ethanol, methanol, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile and dichloromethane. The effects of organic modifier composition, back pressure, and column temperature for enantioseparation of all six compounds were studied. Of the physical parameters studied, modifier composition had the greatest impact on retention. Changing temperature generally had less impact on retention but produced the greatest selectivity changes. The optimum condition was found as follows： Chiralpak IA column, column temperature 35 ~C, back pressure 120 bar, 35% IPA containing 0.1% diethylamine （v/v） in mobile phase, flow rate of mobile phase 3.0 mL/min, UV detection 283 nm. Separation of all six racemic compounds was completed within 10 rain and excellent resolution was obtained. Thus, SFC was found to be the methodology of choice for resolving the enantiomers of this class of compounds.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis on compounds in volatile oils extracted from Yuan Zhi(Radix Polygalae) and Shi Chang Pu(Acorus Tatarinowii) by supercritical CO_2

OBJECTIVE:To analyze the constituents of volatile oils extracted from Yuan Zhi(Radix Polygalae),Shi Chang Pu(Acorus Tatarinowii),and a mixture of the two herbs.METHODS:The volatile oils were extracted using supercritical fluid extraction(SFE) with CO 2,and the constituents of the volatile oil extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS).The relative content of each component was calculated using peak area normalization.RESULTS:The optimized SFE conditions were 45 MPa at 35℃ for 2 h.Twenty-four compounds were identified in the extract from the Yuan Zhi(Radix Polygalae) and Shi Chang Pu(Acorus Tatarinowii) mixture,and six of these had relative contents >1.These compounds were 1,2-dimethoxy-4-(2-propenyl)-benzene;1,2,3-trimethoxy-5-(2-propenyl)-benzene;β-asarone;(Z,Z) 9,12-octadecadienoic acid;(Z) 6-octadecenoic acid;and ethyl oleate.Combination of the herbs increased the number of pharmacologically active substances in the extract and decreased the number of compounds with one benzene ring compared with the extracts from the individual herbs.CONCLUSION:These results indicate there is a synergistic relationship among the compounds in these herbs.

Effects of drying process of Yuanzhi (Radix Palygalae) on its bioactive ingredients

OBJECTIVE： To study the effects of the drying processing in terms operational parameters on the bio- active constituents of six YuanzhJ （Radix Palygalae） samples across China. METHODS： Six Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae） samples were investigated using thermogravimetry analysis. The heating courses were set in two ways： the temperature-programmed process from room temperature to 150℃ ,and the constant-temperature course at 50℃, 70℃ and 90℃. RESULTS： The peak temperature of six Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae） samples ranged from 78℃ to 88℃. The mass loss rate of Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae） alcohol-soluble extract was significantly increased when heated at 90℃. Four types of bioactive ingredients were detected in volatile oils of Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae） sample from Shanxi province by Gas Chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy results showed that the drying temperature exerted a great influence on types and amount of ingredients of Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae）. The kinetic study showed that the constant-temperature drying process of Yuanzhi Radix Palygalae） samples could be well de- scribed by the Page Model, especially for the drying process at 50~C, in which R2 and SD values were more than 0.98 and less than 0.04, respectively.The drying constant k of three Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae） samples from Shanxi, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in China was corresponding to the Arrhenius equation, and their activation energies were 28.07, 2.5.38 and 21.48 kJ/mol, respectively. CONCLUSION： The drying process of Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae） was very important for bioactive ingredients improvement in Yuanzhi （Radix Palygalae）. Temperature was a thermodynamic property significantly affecting the process.