Separation of drugs by packed column supercritical fluid chromatography. 2. Antidepressants.

Antidepressants can be rapidly and efficiently separated by packed-column supercritical fluid chromatography with a tertiary mobile phase. Ten antidepressants were nearly baseline resolved in < 6 min without programming. Calculated detection limits with a 5-microL injection volume were as low as 88 ppb. The effects of temperature, pressure, and modifier concentration on retention and selectivity were studied. Changing modifier concentration caused significant changes in selectivity. Several relationships between solute structure and selectivity changes were noted.