Recent Applications of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography in Modern Analysis: Updates from 2017 to 2020

Background: Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is one of the powerful analytical techniques of modern times. Recently, extensive analytical work has been reported and is in progress by utilizing the advanced features of SFC. Low solvent consumption, high sensitivity, and solvent recovery make it advantageous over the traditional liquid chromatographic techniques. It utilizes supercritical fluids having properties of both liquid and gases, making the applicability of this technique possible for a wider range of analytes. Methods: Various research reports were collected from search engines like Sciencedirect, Pubmed, Researchgate, and Google Scholar. Further, upon a thorough study of these reports, significant findings/data was collected and compiled under suitable headings. Important parameters/ conditions utilized in methodologies are depicted with the help of tables in this study. Results: It was found in various reports that SFC and its hyphenation with mass spectroscopy (MS), ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), photodiode array detector (PDA), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), charged aerosol detector (CAD), etc., have made possible to quantify analytes even in ultra-small concentrations in complex matrices. These techniques have been successfully employed for the quantification of a wide variety of analytes with excellent accuracy, selectivity, and sensitivity. Conclusion: The present review highlights the recent applications of SFC techniques in various analytical fields, such as pesticide analysis, vitamin analysis, enantioseparation, lipid analysis, drug metabolite estimation, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and steroid analysis. Reports from 2017 to 2020 have been included in this compilation.