It is commonly used for analysis of compounds that do not absorb UV-VIS radiation significantly, such as sugars, antiviral drugs, antibiotics, fatty acids, lipids, oils, phospholipids, polymers, surfactants, terpenoids and triglycerides.
[3][4] ELSDs works by nebulizing the column's effluents into a fine aerosol mist, which then passes through a heated drift tube, where the solvent evaporates.
The scattered light proceeds to a photodiode which converts it to a signal, which is proportional to the mass of the analyte particles.
As the eluent exits the column's outlet into the detector inlet, it is mixed with an inert carrier gas (usually nitrogen) and forced through a nebulizer, which separates the liquid into fine aerosolized droplets.
The detector's output is non-linear across more than one order of magnitude and proper calibration is required for quantitative analysis.