In this study the first supercritical fluid based protocol for the extraction, analysis, and isolation of six polar compounds, i.e., o-vanillin (), styracin (), vanillin (), trans-cinnamic acid (), vanillic acid (), and shikimic acid (), was developed. First, eight styrax resin products (R1-R8) obtained from various tree species, which are known to contain compounds-, were extracted with a 1 : 1 mixture of supercritical CO and EtOH. Within 4 minutes, the compounds were successfully baseline separated on an Acquity UPC BEH 2-EP (3.0 × 100 mm, 1.7 µm) column using a mobile phase of supercritical CO and MeOH with 0.1 % phosphoric acid. The compounds were quantified and the method was validated according to current ICH guidelines. Scaling up to preparative supercritical fluid chromatography using a Viridis BEH 2-EP (10 × 250 mm, 5 µm) column allowed for a fast separation and isolation of the selected constituents and from R6 within 7 minutes. This supercritical fluid protocol is easily adaptable to compounds of similar polarity. The increase in speed and its environmental friendliness underline its superiority over conventional set-ups.

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