Supercritical fluid chromatography of selected oestrogens

The separation of selected oestrogens (oestrone, equilin, alpha-oestradiol, beta-oestradiol and d-equilenin) using capillary supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) was studied. Three different stationary phases (SB-methyl-100, SB-biphenyl-30 and SB-cyanopropyl-50) were studied for the separation of the compounds. A baseline separation of the oestrogens was achieved on a SB-cyanopropyl-50 column using a carbon dioxide density gradient at an oven temperature of 73 degrees C. Typical analysis time on a 7 m column was 21 min. Retention times of each oestrogen decreased with an increase in either mobile phase density or oven temperature. Accuracy and precision of the SFC method were in the 1-5.5% range. The SFC method was applied to three different dosage forms containing oestrogens.