Application of Chiral and Achiral Supercritical Fluid Chromatography in Pesticide Analysis: A Review.

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), the most common mode of which employs pressurized carbon dioxide as the mobile phase, is enjoying resuscitation. It is once again reconsidered as a fast developing chromatographic technique for the separation and identification of compounds in mixtures. In recent years, significant improvements in instrumentation, and its proficiency in specialized applications, have rekindled interest in the technique. SFC applicability in various fields, such as pharmaceutical analysis, bioanalysis, forensic science, environmental analysis, food science, has continued to expand. The present article delineates a comprehensive up-to-date overview of the applications of SFC in pesticide analysis, including the monitoring of their residues in different matrices and the investigation of their environmental behaviors such as dissipation and bioaccumulation. Since ~30% of currently registered pesticides are chiral compounds, attention is also paid to the analysis of such pesticides due to their enantioselective biological activities. Thus, both achiral and chiral SFC in pesticide analysis is reviewed. The article covers discussions on chromatographic conditions, method validation, and sample preparation as well as comparisons with gas chromatographic and liquid chromatographic approaches.