PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE-PACKED CAPILLARY COLUMNS FOR HPLC AND SFC

Preparation of packed capillary columns with supercritical carbon dioxide as the packing carrier is demonstrated; column performance was evaluated by both HPLC and SFC. It is shown that this procedure yields excellent column performance. The density of the packed bed can be controlled by varying the restrictor dimensions and the packing pressure. Column preparation using a supercritical fluid is more rapid than with liquid slurry packing and yields good column stability. Because supercritical fluids have a wider range of viscosities and velocities, in comparison with gases and liquids, a wide choice of packing conditions is available. Several applications of columns packed by this method are presented.