Comparison of ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography for the separation of spirostanol saponins.

•UHPSFC is a good automatic chromatographic technique and has little in common with normal phase HPLC.•UHPSFC separates spirostanol saponins varying only in sugar chains or in hydroxyls of aglycones well.•UHPLC with C18 column separates spirostanol saponins varying only in aglycones well, especially with different double bonds.•UHPSFC and UHPLC are complementary and could be applied together in separating spirostanol saponins.