detect amino acids in the presence of salts using ELSD

[dlliu]

Dear all,

Before putting big chunk of money I'd like to get your opinions on the feasibility of ELSD (evaporative light scattering detectors)

My target compounds are amino acids in soil samples where salts cause severe interference when using electro spray ionization and MS. I was wondering if using ELSD, in which analyates are nebulized and the tiny droplets formed by this process are dectected optically.

I'm curious if samples in this nature (higher salt concentration) have been analyzed successfully with ELSD without desalting. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

DL

[Kostas Petritis]

If the salt concentration is high enough to cause interferences in ESI-MS then you can expect to see the same or more interferences with the ELSD.