Capillary supercritical fluid chromatography with simultaneous flame ionization and mass spectrometric detection

A simple interface between a capillary supercritical fluid chromatograph and an Extranuclear Simulscan mass spectrometer is described. The SFC column is directly inserted into the ion source through the existing GC-interface. The system is equipped with a splitting device which allows simultaneous EI/MS and flame ionization detection when CO₂ is used as the supercritical phase. The effect of source temperature and pressure on CO₂ clustering was studied for optimization of source conditions. The performance of the system was evaluated with a series of model compounds and standard mixtures.