Fast separation of flavonoids by supercritical fluid chromatography using a column packed with a sub-2 μm particle stationary phase

Supercritical fluid chromatography is not (only) normal-phase chromatography

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), now using carbon dioxide as a major component of the mobile phase, has been known for over 60 years but still some misunderstandings remain about its capabilities. Amongst them, SFC is often described as a normal-phase chromatographic technique, based on different considerations: polarity of the stationary phase, elution order of the analytes, relative non-polarity of the mobile phase, non-linear retention behaviour, or adsorption retention mechanisms. All of these assumptions are true to a certain extent, and in certain circumstances. But also, all of these assumptions are wrong in different circumstances. In this paper, the criteria to categorize SFC as a normal-phase chromatographic method will be examined individually, considering all knowledge acquired from the early years of its development. Finally, it will appear that the "normal-phase" glass lens is greatly reducing the true extent of SFC's possibilities.

An in-depth investigation of supercritical fluid chromatography retention mechanisms by evaluation of a series of specially designed alkylsiloxane-bonded stationary phases based on linear solvation energy relationship

Fundamental research on supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has gained considerable interest, with many studies focusing on its retention mechanism based on the linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) model. In this paper, a series of alkylsiloxane-bonded stationary phases were specifically designed and synthesized, then evaluated using the mobile phase composed of CO₂ with 10% (v/v) methanol. The study demonstrated the close relationship between the interactions (manner and magnitude) of stationary phases and the C-chain length, bonding density and the endcapping treatment. All C8 phases provide positive e, v and negative s, whose magnitude was regularly affected by bonding density. It was worth mentioning the non-endcapped C8 phases could provide H-bonding (positive a and b) by reducing the bonding density of the alkyl chain. Once it was endcapped, the interaction manner did not vary with bonding density adjustment. The non-endcapped C4 phases with higher bonding density could establish additional dispersion interaction (positive v). It can be seen that two synthesis strategies, 1) non-endcapped, long C-chain (C8) combined with low bonding density, and 2) non-endcapped, short C-chain (C4) combined with high bonding density, can obtain the alkylsiloxane-bonded stationary phases (C8-1 and C4-3) to provide both polar and dispersion interactions, showing different separation selectivity. Furthermore, the LSER model with ionic terms was applied to evaluate partial C8 columns, and its rationality was verified. The non-endcapped C8 showed great d⁺ values, which originated from the silanol groups. C8SCX also possessed a great d⁺ value due to the benzenesulfonic acid groups. A remarkable result showed that C8SAX exhibited prominent d^- and d⁺ values simultaneously due to the combined effect of silanol and quaternary ammonium groups, which indicates the unique selectivity when separating ionic compounds. This study provides in-depth insights into the retention mechanism of alkylsiloxane-bonded stationary phases in SFC, as well as a reference for the design of SFC stationary phases.

Insights on the Extraction and Analysis of Phenolic Compounds from Citrus Fruits: Green Perspectives and Current Status

Citrus fruits (CF) are highly consumed worldwide, fresh, processed, or prepared as juices and pies. To illustrate the high economic importance of CF, the global production of these commodities in 2021 was around 98 million tons. CF's composition is considered an excellent source of phenolic compounds (PC) as they have a large amount and variety. Since ancient times, PC has been highlighted to promote several benefits related to oxidative stress disorders, such as chronic diseases and cancer. Recent studies suggest that consuming citrus fruits can prevent some of these diseases. However, due to the complexity of citrus matrices, extracting compounds of interest from these types of samples, and identifying and quantifying them effectively, is not a simple task. In this context, several extractive and analytical proposals have been used. This review discusses current research involving CF, focusing mainly on PC extraction and analysis methods, regarding advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of Green Chemistry.

Advanced Development of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography in Herbal Medicine Analysis

The greatest challenge in the analysis of herbal components lies in their variety and complexity. Therefore, efficient analytical tools for the separation and qualitative and quantitative analysis of multi-components are essential. In recent years, various emerging analytical techniques have offered significant support for complicated component analysis, with breakthroughs in selectivity, sensitivity, and rapid analysis. Among these techniques, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has attracted much attention because of its high column efficiency and environmental protection. SFC can be used to analyze a wide range of compounds, including non-polar and polar compounds, making it a prominent analytical platform. The applicability of SFC for the separation and determination of natural products in herbal medicines is overviewed in this article. The range of applications was expanded through the selection and optimization of stationary phases and mobile phases. We also focus on the two-dimensional SFC analysis. This paper provides new insight into SFC method development for herbal medicine analysis.

A review of retention mechanism studies for packed column supercritical fluid chromatography

The packed column supercritical fluid chromatography has risen as a promising alternative separation technique to the conventional liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. Although the packed column supercritical fluid chromatography has many advantages compared to other chromatographic techniques, its separation mechanism is not fully understood due to the complex combination effects of many chromatographic parameters on separation quality and the lacking of global strategies for studying separation mechanisms. This review aims to provide recent information regarding the chromatographic behaviors and the effects of the parameters on the separation, discuss the results, and point out the remaining bottlenecks in the packed column supercritical fluid chromatography retention mechanism studies.

Analysis of flavonoids with unified chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry-method development and application to compounds of pharmaceutical and cosmetic interest

In this project, we aimed at analysing flavonoid-type compounds with unified chromatography (joining supercritical fluid chromatography and enhanced fluidity liquid chromatography with carbon dioxide-methanol mobile phases covering a wide range of compositions) and diode-array and electrospray ionization mass spectrometric detection (UC-DAD-ESI-MS). First, the chromatographic method was developed for 9 standard flavonoid molecules from three different families (flavanols, flavanones and flavonols, glycosylated or not), with a strong focus on mobile phase composition to achieve the elution of a wide range of flavonoids with good chromatographic quality (efficiency and resolution). For this purpose, two stationary phases were selected (ACQUITY UPC² DEA and Diol), and five different additives (formic acid, citric acid, phosphoric acid, methanesulfonic acid and ammonium hydroxide) were successively introduced in the methanol co-solvent. The composition containing 0.1% methanesulfonic acid in methanol was retained as it provided the best chromatographic quality together with the possibility of hyphenating the chromatography to mass spectrometry. The DEA column appeared to provide the best efficiency and was retained for further method development. The gradient method was then optimized to achieve a fast analysis, which involved elution with a wide range of mobile phase composition (from 20 to 100% co-solvent in methanol) together with reversed flow rate and reversed pressure gradients at fixed temperature. The final gradient lasted 10 min, followed by 2.5 min of re-equilibration. Then, ESI-MS detection was optimized. Because the single-quadrupole mass spectrometer employed (ACQUITY UPC² QDa) allowed the variation of only a few parameters, a design of experiments was used to define the best compromise for three parameters (probe temperature, cone voltage and capillary voltage). The make-up fluid introduced before entering the MS was also varied: different compositions of methanol-water containing either formic acid, ammonium hydroxide or sodium chloride were tested. The best results in terms of signal-to-noise ratio were obtained with methanol containing 20 mM ammonium hydroxide and 2% water. The optimal UC-DAD-ESI-MS method was then applied to two different flavonoid formulation ingredients. The first one, hidrosmin (5-O-(β-hydroxyethyl)diosmin), is known for its vasoprotective properties and therefore employed in pharmaceutical formulations. The second one, α-glucosyl-hesperidin (sometimes referred to as vitamin P), is employed in cosmetic formulations. Identification of the major compounds in each sample was achieved with the help of MS detection. Graphical abstract.

Towards eco-friendly secondary plant metabolite quantitation: Ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography applied to common vervain (Verbena officinalis L.)

This report presents the first ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography diode array detector based assay for simultaneous determination of iridoid glucosides, flavonoid glucuronides, and phenylpropanoid glycosides in Verbena officinalis (Verbenaceae) extracts. Separation of the key metabolites was achieved in less than 7 min on an Acquity UPC² Torus Diol column using a mobile phase gradient comprising subcritical carbon dioxide and methanol with 0.15% phosphoric acid. Method validation for seven selected marker compounds (hastatoside, verbenalin, apigenin‐7‐O‐glucuronide, luteolin‐7‐O‐glucuronide, apigenin‐7‐O‐diglucuronide, verbascoside, and luteolin‐7‐O‐diglucuronide) confirmed the assay to be sensitive, linear, precise, and accurate. Head‐to‐head comparison to an ultra high performance liquid chromatography comparator assay did prove the high orthogonality of the methods. Quantitative result equivalence was evaluated by Passing‐Bablok‐correlation and Bland‐Altman‐plot analysis. This cross‐validation revealed, that one of the investigated marker compound peaks was contaminated in the ultra high performance liquid chromatography assay by a structurally related congener. Taken together, it was proven that the ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography instrument setup with its orthogonal selectivity is a true alternative to conventional reversed phase liquid chromatography in quantitative secondary metabolite analysis. For regulatory purposes, assay cross‐validation with highly orthogonal methods seems a viable approach to avoid analyte overestimation due to coeluting, analytically indistinguishable contaminants.

Supercritical fluid chromatography-a technical overview and its applications in medicinal plant analysis: an update covering 2012-2018

Medicinal plants with complex matrices are endowed with a wide scope of biological activities. The separation, quantification, characterization and purification of bioactive components from herbal medicine extracts have always challenged analysts. Fortunately, the advancement of various emerging techniques has provided potent support for improving the method selectivity, sensitivity and run speeds in medicinal plant analyses. In recent years, the advent of new-generation supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) instruments and a wide diversity of column chemistries, coupled with the intrinsic technical features of SFC, have made it an alternative and prominent analytical platform in the medicinal plant research area. This work aims to give a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals, technical advancement and investigating parameters of SFC in combination with three prevalent detectors. Moreover, the latest research progress of SFC applications in medicinal plant analyses is illuminated, with focus on herbal medicine-related SFC papers on the analytical and preparative scale that were published during the period of 2012 to December 2018. The most relevant applications were classified based on the constituents to be analysed. As for the respective research cases, analytical protocols and data processing strategies were provided, along with the indicated restrictions or superiority of the method; thus, the current status of SFC in medicinal plant analysis was presented.

Frequency division multiplex HPLC-MS for simultaneous analyses

Multiplex high-performance liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), in which multiple HPLCs and one MS are hyphenated, is an approach for high throughput analysis in HPLC-MS. A general multiplex HPLC-MS method employs a column-switching technology, and only one HPLC is connected to one MS at a time. In the present study, we propose a novel multiplex HPLC-MS system for simultaneous HPLC-MS analyses. In this study, multiple HPLCs are hyphenated with one MS without a column-switching mechanism, and a mixed-chromatogram is observed by the MS. Here, we employ a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique used in communication engineering to extract any chromatogram from the mixed-chromatogram. When a modulator (chopper or ion-gate type) is set between each ion source and the MS, each modulator blocks each sample stream with an individual frequency. In theory, each chromatogram can be extracted from the mixed-chromatogram via a signal processing based on a Fourier transform (FT), frequency-based signal extraction, and reversed FT. In the actual experiment, two HPLCs are hyphenated with one MS (2HPLC-1MS). The use of chopper type modulators leads to the extraction and restoration of each chromatogram from the mixed-chromatogram. However, each restored-chromatogram involves signal interference. On the other hand, the ion-gate modulation system successfully resulted in restored-chromatograms without interference. The potential of the novel multiplex HPLC-MS system based on FDM is confirmed with respect to the simultaneous and continuous analyses of plural samples.