Simultaneous Analysis of Carboxylic Anhydrides and Hydrolysates Using Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Carboxylic anhydrides are easily decomposed by water or alcohol, making analysis by reversed-phase liquid chromatography difficult. Therefore, normal phase liquid chromatography(NPLC)is often used for direct analysis of carboxylic anhydrides. However, NPLC uses a large amount of organic solvent such as hexane and chloroform, which raises concerns about human health and environmental impact. In this presentation, we examine the use of supercritical fluid chromatography(SFC) for the analysis of carboxylic anhydrides. SFC uses non-polar carbon dioxide as the mobile phase, similar to NPLC with lower solvent cost and environmental impact. In addition, SFC does not require water or alcohol as the mobile phase, which is expected to reduce the influence of decomposition on the analytical results.