High-resolution analysis of polyprenols by supercritical fluid chromatography

A high-resolution analysis of polyprenol mixtures was achieved by supercrit ical fluid chromatography (SFC). The separation of polyprenols was examined on an octadecylsilane-packed column with liquid carbon dioxide as the mobi le phase and ethanol as modifier. Using this chromatography system, the res olution of separation (R-s) between octadecaprenol (prenol 18) and nonadeca prenol (prenol 19) was two times higher than that using conventional revers ed-phase highperformance liquid chromatography. Our SFC technique allows th e advantage of baseline separation of polyprenol samples containing hydroph obic components such as terpenes or fatty acids that are unfavorable for go od separation. This method is very useful for the analysis of structurally close polyprenol analogues of rubber plant metabolites. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.