ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the basic understanding needed to begin implementing Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) in the analytical laboratory. It describes the interactions of various experimental parameters that are utilized in SFE in the hope that better understanding of the parameters will allow the reader to more efficiently develop and use SFE in the analytical laboratory. However, it is important to also note that both solid phase and solvent collection can be efficiently performed for all but the most volatile analytes as long as the analyst has a basic understanding of the collection systems. In addition, commercially-available solvent collection systems have widely-varying collection efficiencies, especially for more volatile analytes. A major reason for performing on-line SFE is to facilitate the collection of species that are too volatile for the off-line collection methods. The extraction of volatiles and semivolatiles from biological matrices by SFE offers some improvement over other techniques such as headspace or purge/trap methods due to its benign nature.
