The properties of silica-based, chemically bonded, packed column stationary phases used in supercritical fluid chromatography are described with a focus on column design and retention mechanisms. Supercritical fluid chromatography has benefited substantially from innovations in column design for liquid chromatography even if the separation conditions employed are generally quite different. The mobile phase composition and column operating conditions play an interactive role in modifying selectivity in supercritical fluid chromatography by altering analyte solubility in the mobile phase and through selective solvation of the stationary phase resulting in a wider range and intensity of intermolecular interactions with the analyte. The solvation parameter model is used to identify the main parameters that affect retention in supercritical fluid chromatography using carbon dioxide-methanol as a mobile phase and as a basis for column characterization to facilitate the identification of stationary phases with different separation characteristics for method development. As a caution it is pointed out that these column characterization methods are possibly a product of both the stationary phase chemistry and the column operating conditions and are suitable for use only when columns of similar design and with similar operating conditions are used.
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