| Abstract: | Capillary supercritical fluid chromatography and its combination with mass spectrometry (SFC-MS) is an important analytical methodology for the analysis of thermally labile and high molecular weight compounds. The mass spectrometer provides sensitive and highly selective detection for the chromatographic effluent. The same physical-chemical properties of supercritical fluids that provide important chromatographic advantages are also important for the transport and gas phase introduction of analyte molecules into the mass spectrometer. The low mobile phase flow rates of small diameter (< 100 μm i.d.) capillary columns allow the total chromatographic effluent to be introduced with conventional, but often slightly modified, ion source configurations for quadrupole mass spectrometers with either electron impact (EI) or chemical ionization (CI) detection. The full range of CI reagents can also be used to obtain additional selectivity and complementary structural data. The instrumentation and operating parameters for capillary SFC-MS methods are described. The applicability and usefulness of various SFC-MS analysis methods are demonstrated using a variety of samples. |
