supercritical fluid chromatography

[Raquel]

I have method for separating chiral alcohols, using supercritical fluid chromatography, however our HPLC is not equiped for this type of chromatography, can you suggest an alternative method.

Would using an aqueos buffer with some sort of carbonate and heating the column work, or I have to look for a completely new method for separating these aromatic alcohols.

[tom jupille]

Entantiomer separations differ from most other applications in that most of the selectivity comes from the column. That means that method development (whether SFC or HPLC) involves having a library of (expensive) columns.

If this were my problem, the first thing I would do is to contact the columns suppliers (in the US, look for Regis Technologies, Chiral Technologies, Astec [now part of Supelco?]) and see if they have an application or recommendation for your compounds.

If nothing turns up, I would pay one of them to develop a method for me. Unless you will be doing lots of chiral methods, this is probably more cost-effective than buying a reasonable selection of columns.

[sball]

Raquel,

If you contact Regis directly (or via a distributor in your country), it is possible to send them a sample of your enantiomers, and they will do a free chiral screen for you on a range of their columns. I used to work for a Regis distributor, so have arranged Regis chiral screens for customers on a number of occasions. More often than not, Regis come back with a solution (and provide you with the relevant separation conditions). There is no obligation to buy their columns, but if one of them does give the separation you are looking for then it is probably worth going for it.

Other chiral column manufacturers (i.e. Chiral Technologies etc., Chromtech) offer the same kind of service I believe.

Hope that helps.

Best Regards,

Steve.