In this chapter, we highlight the basic concepts behind the use of SFE to
select molecules present in food matrices, e.g., carotenoids, essential oils, waxes, and
phenolic compounds. Also, we highlight the SFE equipment setup, the methods for
process intensification, and mass transfer mechanisms involved in the process, besides
the advantages and drawbacks. Supercritical fluids have been suggested as a powerful
tool to improve the performance of analytical methods in terms of reduced steps for
sample preparation and waste generation, besides enhanced precision and recovery of
analytes detected. The offline association of SFE with analytical detection has been
elucidated for decades. Currently, many efforts have been made to reach the
miniaturization of equipment as well as the online hyphenation between extraction and
analytical detection with supercritical fluids as a novel method for sample preparation
to detect food analytes in real time with accuracy and robustness.
Keywords: Analytical chemistry, Chromatography, Food bioactive, Overall extraction curves, Sample preparation, Supercritical CO2 .
