Analytical Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) System

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography requires a supercritical fluid (most commonly CO2) as the primary component of the mobile phase. The intrinsic characteristics of low viscosity and high diffusivity of supercritical CO2 makes SFC faster and more efficient than traditional HPLC. SFC achieves faster flow rates with shorter analysis times without the requirement for higher pressures like UHPLC. As in reverse phase HPLC, an alcoholic co-solvent or modifier can be combined with the CO2 to increase the solvation strength and can be used isocratically or as a gradient. The components in a SFC system are the same that can be found in any HPLC system, with the addition of a high pressure flow cell for the detector and a back pressure regulator (BPR). The BPR applies a carefully controlled pressure to the outlet of the column to maintain accurate supercritical conditions, and is an integral part of the performance of the system.

 

The Jasco SFC advantage

1. Faster analysis times
2. Higher selectivity with longer and smaller particle columns
3. Reduction in total solvent consumption
4. More environmentally-friendly solvents
5. CO2 replaces hexane or heptane
6. Alcohols typically used as co-solvents
7. Longer column lifetimes
8. Orthogonal to HPLC methods
9. Easy removal of mobile phase after preparative fractionation
10. Reduction in waste disposal

 

JASCO Analytical SFC Series Type :

SFC

The CO2 pump includes peltier cooling (with pump-head temperature monitoring) to control the density of the mobile phase for accurate CO2 flow with excellent retention time reproducibility.

Automatic, shut-off valves close the CO2 inlet and outlet (and co-solvent pump) to isolate the pumps for quick and simple priming when flow is not pumping.

• The autosampler has a sample capacity of up to 180 – 2mL samples with both full-loop and variable-loop injection up to 100μL. For increasing throughput, towards the end of the current separation, the next sample is pre-loaded into the loop to eliminate the loading time between injections.
• A variety of column ovens are available for single or multiple columns with options for built-in column selection valves to ensure temperature equilibration for both columns and valves to minimize band broadening in the peaks.
• The patented back pressure regulator has unmatched pressure regulation precision and accuracy with an extremely low noise baseline and excellent retention time reproducibility.

SFC-MS

The SFC-4000-MS combines all of the advantages of SFC with the selectivity and sensitivity of a mass spectrometer.

• The CMS single quadrapole mass-spectrometer is a perfect complement to SFC. As CO2 passes out from the BPR it depressurizes and expands to a gas at a rate of 1:500, which assists with the nebulization at the ion source.
• Multiple source options include; ESI, APCI and ASAP, with positive/negative ion mode switching for the high range detection of M/Z up to 2000 AMU.
• The ChromNAV-MS add-in program includes full control and acquisition of the CMS, with auto-calibration and auto-tuning for easy optimization.

Parallel SFC

The Parallel SFC provides the highest throughput in column and solvent screening for chiral and achiral compounds.

• The system provides simultaneous elution on 4 or 5 columns for up to 5 times the throughput of traditional SFC.
• Up to 10 columns and 10 solvents will cover a wide range of column-solvent combinations to achieve the best pair.
• Single column-solvent optimization is then performed to obtain the best separation for scaling up to preparative purification.

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ChromNAV Software for Analytical SFC

Instrument Control

ChromNAV uses methods and sequences for quick and easy set-up of sample analysis. The autosampler sample pre-load feature eliminates the sample loading time between injections further increasing throughput of the system. The sequence includes peak integration, peak table, calibration and fully customizable reports for complete automation from sample analysis to report printing. Each component in the system is subject to performance monitoring and the information is recorded with the acquired data file together with the method for a complete history of operation.

Data Acquisition

Chromatograms can be monitored and acquired simultaneously from multiple detectors including; UV-visible, 3D PDA, fluorescence, CD, SIM, XIC, TIC and mass spectrum. The mass spectrum can also be analyzed after acquisition to identify unknown peaks. ChromNAV has many features for data analysis and processing, both automatically during the run and extensively post run. Raw data and peak calculation results can be exported automatically in several formats including CSV (for Microsoft Excel).