Twenty Years of Evaporative Light Scattering Detection

Evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) is a quasi-universal detector for liquid, countercurrent and supercritical fluid chromatography, since it can detect any analyte less volatile than the mobile phase. Operation principle mainly consists of three successive processes: nebulization of the chromatographic effluent; evaporation of the mobile phase; measurement of the scattered light. After 20 years of development, its usage appears significant advantages and potentialities as well as several limitations. In this paper, operation principles, technological innovations, methodological approaches, chemometrics, application areas (pharmaceuticals, foods and beverages, natural products, biological samples and polymers), potentialities and limitations of ELSD are thoroughly reviewed. A bibliography of 83 representative references is given.

Keywords:

• evaporative light scattering
• ELSD
• review
• applications
• principle

We gratefully acknowledge support from the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Technology, General Secretariat of Research and Technology of Greece and the Ministry of Education (EPEAEK II program ‘Pythagoras’).