Comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography with coupling of reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography and supercritical fluid chromatography.

A 2D comprehensive chromatographic separation of blackberry sage fragrant oil was performed by using HPLC in the first dimension and SFC in the second. A C(18)-bonded silica column eluted with an ACN gradient was used in the HPLC dimension and an amino-bonded silica column eluted with ACN as a modifier in the SFC dimension. This 2D separation was completed in the off-line mode, the fractions from the HPLC column being collected and injected in the SFC column. The retention factors on the two columns have a -0.757 correlation coefficient. The method provides a practical peak capacity of 2400 in 280 min. The first eluted peaks in HPLC are the last ones eluted in SFC and vice versa. The results demonstrate that the coupling of an HPLC and an SFC separation have a great potential for 2D chromatographic separations.