Abstract
This review enlightens the role of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) in the field of lipid analysis. SFC has been popular in the late 1980s and 1990s before almost disappearing due to the commercial success of liquid chromatography (LC). It is only 20 years later that a regain of interest appeared when new commercial instruments were introduced. As SFC is fully compatible with the injection of extracts in pure organic solvent, this technique is perfectly suitable for lipid analysis and can be coupled with either highly universal (UV or evaporative light scattering) or highly specific (mass spectrometry) detection methods. A short history of the use of supercritical fluids as mobile phase for the separation oflipids will be introduced first. Then, the advantages and drawbacks of SFC are discussed for each class of lipids (fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, sterols, prenols, polyketides) defined by the LIPID MAPS consortium.
Highlights
This review enlightens the role of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) in the field of lipid analysis
The density of SFs is similar to that of liquids. The former are highly compressible as compared to the latter. This last property indicates that the density of a mobile phase consisting of a SF can drastically vary with pressure and temperature, contrariwise to a mobile phase composed of a liquid mixture for which density is mostly constant at pressures below 300 bar, i.e., for the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
In order to modulate the solubility of analytes in SF and to increase the elution strength of the mobile phase when performing chromatography, SF CO2 is usually mixed with a small amount of a polar solvent, called modifier or co-solvent
Summary
Four classical states of matter, i.e., solid, liquid, gas and plasma, have been well defined since the. In order to modulate the solubility of analytes in SF and to increase the elution strength of the mobile phase when performing chromatography, SF CO2 is usually mixed with a small amount of a polar solvent, called modifier or co-solvent. This implies significant alterations of physical chemical properties such as the dielectric constant, hydrogen-bonding capabilities, mass transfer characteristics and viscosity of mobile phase. Lipids, which are highly soluble in organic solvents such as alcohol/dichloromethane mixtures, are well suited for SFC, whereas this technique is not well adapted to water-soluble molecules, such as peptides or proteins
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