The Nexera™ UC Prep is a new preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) system resolves a number of issues in preparative tasks, reducing labor and improving efficiency while fitting into pre-existing workflows. Not only does the Nexera UC Prep achieve superior recovery rates for purification, but it also provides flexible system configurations in a compact design, requiring low installation space.
Thanks to the low viscosity and high diffusivity of supercritical CO2, column back pressure in (SFC) is low even at high flow rates and target compounds are recovered in high concentrations in an organic solvent, which saves time not only during analysis, but also during post-run processing after preparative tasks are complete. The Nexera™ UC Prep maximizes fractionation output with its high recovery rates and ability to carry out continuous preparative work.
Comparison for 1% linalool
| Equipment | Recovery rate |
| Conventional separator | 78.0% |
| LotusStream Separator | 96.7% |
High recovery rates can be obtained regardless of flow rate or modifier concentration, even for volatile compounds such as the fragrance linalool.
Because most of the mobile phase is vaporized supercritical CO2, only the organic solvent (modifier) added to change the polarity of the mobile phase remains after preparative work. Since there is no water content in the recovery fraction, the concentration time is significantly shorter.
More of the target compound can be fractionated at once by loading a large volume. However, this can sometimes lead to poor separation and broad peak shapes because of sample solvent effects. By performing fractionation with the on-line SFE-SFC, solid samples can be enclosed in an extraction vessel and extracted directly without dissolving in a solvent. A good peak shape prevents simultaneous elution of contaminants and improves the purity of the target component.
In a single system, the Nexera UC Prep can handle ow rates from 10 to 150 mL/min for fractionation of a range of sample sizes, from a few hundred mg up to a few grams. Shimadzu provides various preparative systems, such as Nexera UC/s, which can perform SFC analysis and UHPLC analysis using a single system. The system corresponding to the application can be selected.
