Abstract
The wide chemical diversity of natural products has challenged analysts all over the
world and has been a driving force for the development of innovative technologies
since decades. In the last years, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has finally
emerged from the shadow of liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC)
and has become a powerful tool in modern natural product analysis. Whereas in the
past the technique had mainly been restricted to a small group of nonpolar compounds,
it has largely expanded its suitability in the last years and has demonstrated possibilities
without boundaries. This mini-review, focused on the latest applications, provides
a brief update on the current status of SFC in natural product analysis with the aim
to demonstrate its applicability for both polar and nonpolar plant constituents. The
approaches cover the whole range of polarity, including carotenoids, flavonoids, water-unstable
ginkgolides, and even highly polar triterpene saponins with several sugar residues.
Key words
supercritical fluid chromatography - SFC, SFC-MS - mass spectrometry - natural product
analysis - medicinal plants