Use of specially designed columns for antioxidants and antimicrobials enrichment by preparative supercritical fluid chromatography.

A new, specially designed column has been developed for fractionation of supercritical fluid extract of rosemary by using a preparative supercritical fluid chromatography system (Prep-SFC). The column evaluated in this work was prepared using a new packing method consisting of a combination of slurry and supercritical CO2 with commercial silica particles coated with a stationary phase commonly used in gas chromatography, such as SE-54 (5% phenyl-, 95% methylsilicone). The new packing procedure provided columns with reasonable efficiencies, with high stability and useful at high-pressure range. A 25 cm x 10 mm i.d. column packed with silica particles coated with 3% of SE-54 was prepared, and its separation power was tested for isolating fractions with high antioxidant and/or antimicrobial activity from a supercritical rosemary extract. The SFC conditions were selected based on a previous work done with a commercial LC-Diol packed column (130 bar, 80 degrees C), and different percentages of modifier in the mobile phase were tested (5 and 10%). Two cyclones were employed to collect the fractions which were then characterized by HPLC-diode array detection (DAD), GC, and in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial assays. The use of coated packed columns allowed the fractionation of a complex mixture of rosemary supercritical extract with a minimum amount of modifier in the mobile phase (5% ethanol). At the optimum conditions it was possible to obtain two very active fractions in terms of antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, with no residual rosemary aroma and with improved activities compared to the original supercritical extract.