Online supercritical fluid extraction and chromatography of biomarkers analysis in aqueous samples for in situ planetary applications.

Sensitive and robust in situ chemical analysis of organic biomarkers is essential in the endeavor of finding chemical signatures of life either extinct or extant on our solar system bodies such as Europa, Enceladus, or Titan. Development of new analytical instruments and accompanying methodologies are needed, especially those that are compatible with unknown and diverse samples potentially found on solar system targets and that avoid complexities involved with other wet chemistry techniques (desalting, derivatization and contamination issues, etc.). In this study, we demonstrate that online supercritical fluid extraction and supercritical fluid chromatography with water-saturated CO