A miniaturized evaporative light scattering detector for application with packed microcolumn high-performance liquid chromatography

A miniaturized evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) compatible with packed microcolumn high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been developed. In such a detector, it is particularly important that an efficient nebulization of the column effluent is achieved. Therefore, the geometry of the nebulizer has been optimized. Detector performance was demonstrated for acetonitrile-acetone at 5-100 mu L min(-1) as mobile phase, a packed microcolumn, 0.7 mm i.d. was used. Isocratic and gradient elutions were performed. Detection limit was lower than 8 ng. Linear range was 30-300 ng. Quantitative analysis of cohune oil components separated on a C-18 column using gradient elution was examined. The relative standard deviation (RSD) in peak areas was 1.9-3.7% for large peaks. Minor peaks gave higher RSD. (C) 1988 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.