It is proposed that Lee Scientific, Inc. (LSI) will investigate and develop new and improved instrumental methods for the analysis of non-volatile organic compounds in complex environmental matrices by capillary column supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). Non-volatile compounds of specific interest include heavy-molecular-weight, polar, and thermally-labile species which have proven to be difficult or impossible to analyze by conventional GC and/or HPLC methods. In Phase I of this work, the feasibility of analyzing selected non-volatile compounds, both as standard compounds and as found in the presence of complex mixtures, by capillary column SFC was successfully demonstrated. Experimental aspects of Phase I included the investigation of supercritical fluid mobile phase solubility effects and SFC detector sensitivity limitations. In Phase II emphasis will be on the development of improved detection and injection systems for SFC, use of binary supercritical fluid mobile phases, synthesis and testing of new capillary column stationary phases optimized for specific compound classes, and expanding the range of SFC applications to other types of compounds and samples which are of interest to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These investigations at the Phase II level will result in standardized methods for the analyses of non-volatile organic compounds using a newly developed supercritical fluid chromatographic instrument. The methods and instrument will be usable in commercial and industrial laboratories by staff skilled in gas or liquid chromatography. The methods developed will effectively address an analytical area of considerable concern to the EPA: the qualitative and quantitative analysis of non-volatile organic compounds in complex environmental matrices which cannot be analyzed using currently available commercial instrumentation.
