Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) utilises the special physicochemical properties of carbon dioxide in a liquid state at supercritical pressure for separation of pharmaceutical products and related impurities. The SFC is much faster and more efficient than HPLC, uses shorter columns, and allows wide range variations of eluent polarity by doping with other solvents that increase its utility for efficient separation of various organic compounds. SFC is an environmentally friendly technique as it does not require the use of large volumes of organic solvents. This is most advantageous in prep-SFC compared to prep-LC/HPLC, as it allows material purification and isolation without generating large volumes of organic solvent waste.
An SFC system makes use of compressed liquid CO2 as its primary mobile phase, which enables precise manipulation of mobile phase strength, pressure, and temperature. This ability to finely adjust the system’s resolving power and selectivity provides enhanced control over analyte retention, thereby improving the separation, detection, and quantification of structural analogs, isomers, and both enantiomeric and diastereomeric mixtures—compounds that typically present considerable separation challenges with other methods.
Eurofins CDMO Alphora chose the SFC to resolve routine and challenging separations that require high selectivity and ease of operation. Reversed-phase chromatography generally results in the elution of polar compounds at the beginning, supporting both standard and complex separation difficulties. In contrast, convergence chromatography retains polar compounds and elutes them last, effectively merging the separation efficiency of normal-phase liquid chromatography with the simplicity associated with reversed-phase liquid chromatography.
Eurofins CDMO Alphora recently installed an analytical SFC system (Waters Corporation Acquity UPC2®) that is currently available for analytical and prep-development use. Additional detectors (Mass Spec QDa) are planned for the system, along with qualification for GMP use in 2025. The goal is to increase the number of SFC units, not only to support client needs, but also to decrease carbon footprint in the future, wherever possible.