Capillary Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Abstract

Capillary supercritical fluid chromatography has been demonstrated as a viable alternative for the analysis of food components which are sensitive to temperature such as flavors and fragrances. Supercritical fluids have long been recognized for their unique solvating characteristics. One of the most common uses of supercritical fluids is for the extraction of components of interest from natural materials (i.e., caffeine from coffee or oil from soybeans). Early in its development, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) was used for the analysis of natural materials such as flavors and other food components because the technique is well suited for the analysis of compounds which thermally degrade. In this paper, the use of capillary SFC for the analysis of food components is discussed. Examples of the capillary SFC analysis of fats and flavors as well as food contaminants such as pesticides are presented.