Evaporative light scattering detector
An evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) is a destructive detector used with liquid chromatography methods such as HPLC, UHPLC, and purification chromatography (like flash or preparative runs), as well as supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). It is especially useful for compounds that do not absorb UV light well, such as sugars, antivirals, antibiotics, fatty acids, lipids, oils, phospholipids, polymers, surfactants, terpenoids, and triglycerides. ELSD works by nebulizing the column effluent into a fine aerosol, sending it through a heated drift tube where the solvent evaporates. The remaining non-volatile particles are carried by an inert carrier gas (usually nitrogen) to a light-scattering cell, where a light beam is scattered by the particles and detected by a photodiode or photomultiplier, giving a signal proportional to the particle mass. Because it detects particles rather than UV absorption, ELSD can be used with gradient LC and SFC and is often described as a universal detector for non-volatile or semi-volatile compounds. The response is nonlinear over wide ranges, so calibration is required for quantitative analysis. ELSD is related to the charged aerosol detector (CAD), but ELSD droplets are not charged.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:16 (CET).