Sub-, Near- And Supercritical Water In Analytical Separations And Instrumentation Development

Apart from being the greenest of all solvents, water is also the most tuneable solvent in the sense of property variations that can result from proper adjustments of operating temperature and pressure. Although most applications of water as a solvent in analytical chemistry operate between room temperature and the normal boiling point, there are multiple uses of high-temperature water in analytical chemistry as well. In this contribution, several applications of subcritical, near-critical and supercritical water in analytical separations and technologies are discussed, as developed or under development in the authors' institution.