Chiral separation of some triazole pesticides by supercritical fluid chromatography

The enantiomeric separation of six triazole pesticides: cyproconazole, propiconazole, diniconazole, hexaconazole, tebuconazole and tetraconazole, using supercritical fluid chromatography and the Chiralpak AD column, is presented in this work. The effect of different organic modifiers such as methanol, ethanol and 2-propanol on the retention and resolution was studied as well as the presence of additives in the mobile phase. The results obtained were highly successful, all the compounds were enantiomerically separated and in most of the cases the analysis time was close to 10 min. The type of organic modifier that provided the best results depended on the compound. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.