Superheated water: A new look at chromatographic eluents for reversed-phase HPLC

The authors propose using water superheated to 100-240 degrees C as an alte rnative liquid eluent for reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatogr aphy (HPLC) to overcome many of the problems of toxicity, flammability, and cost associated with organic modifiers. Superheated water has been demonst rated as an eluent with a number of stationary phase materials, including p oly(styrene-divinylbenzene) and porous graphitic carbon both isothermally a nd in a thermal gradient mode. It is compatible with conventional HPLC spec troscopic detectors and also can be used with flame-ionization, nuclear mag netic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry detectors. The authors provide examples of separation applications, including aromatic compounds, pharmaceutical compounds, and vitamins.