Preparation of packed capillary columns using supercritical carbon dioxide on cyclone-type slurry reservoir

Fused silica packed capillary columns has been prepared using a new type of reservoir designed and engineered in house. We named it "cyclone" in analogy to an industrial equipment having similar shape. The performance of these columns was evaluated using solvating gas chromatography (SGC), a particular case of the transition phase chromatography (TPC); experiments showed that high efficient columns with a reduced plate height of ca. 2.0 were obtained even using 10 microns ODS particles. The advantageous features, obtained by using the cyclone device, make the newly developed columns suitable for separations of very complex samples and trace analysis. All steps involved in the preparation of the columns are addressed and discussed.