Waters Acquity UPSFC system

The Waters Acquity UPSFC system is a holistically designed analytical system combining the advantages of sub-2 µm particle technology and the efficiency of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). Built on the company’s ultra performance LC (UPLC) technology, the system claims to reduce run times by up to ten fold, reduce solvent usage by as much as 95% and cutting the cost of analyses by as much as 99%, while giving laboratories a greener alternative to normal phase chromatography for chiral and achiral separations.

The system enables users to conduct normal phase chromatographic separations using carbon dioxide as the primary mobile phase rather than expensive and toxic solvents, saving laboratories tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of an instrument.

Using Viridis columns the system offers ruggedness and dependability. The system is fully compatible with the company’s Empower and MassLynx informatics software and its line of UV and mass detectors.

Supercritical fluids share the physical properties of both a gas and a liquid and exhibit the positive chromatographic qualities of both. Relative to HPLC solvents, their low viscosity and high solute diffusivity result in faster analysis times, lower backpressure, shorter re-equilibration times and higher throughput without loss in efficiency.

For chiral and achiral separations this means greater signal-to-noise ratios, better peak shapes and higher peak capacity, enabling scientists to rapidly confirm the purity of compounds down to the 0.01% level, determine the enantiomeric excess or, when coupled to mass spectrometry, confirm compound identity.

SFC is experiencing a resurgence in applications areas not limited to just purification but also analysis, including: fossil fuels and hydrocarbons; agrichemicals; polymers; explosives and propellants; lipids; carbohydrates; foods and flavours; natural products; industrial chemicals; metal chelates and organometallic compounds.