Liquid chromatographic detector and method

An apparatus for detecting the solute burden of an effluent of a liquid chromatograph column comprising:

• means for emitting an effluent liquid stream from the chromatograph column in the form of spherical droplets, through an opening in the liquid chromatograph column at a constant velocity and over a common path, each of said droplets being imparted with an electric charge, the amount of said electric charge acquired by each droplet being dependent upon the nature and quantity of the solute carried by said droplet, said means for emitting an effluent liquid stream also including a piezoelectric element firmly affixed to a nozzle of said liquid chromatograph column;
• deflector means positioned parallel to said common path of travel of said droplets so that said droplets travel through said deflector means;
• means for creating a transverse electric field between said deflector means;
• said deflector means causing each droplet to be deflected from said common path of travel;
• means for recording the solute burden of each droplet in said series of droplets as a function of the deviation of the droplets from said common path.

A method of detecting the solute burden of effluent of a liquid chromatograph column comprising the steps of:

• emitting an effluent liquid stream, as uniformly sized spherical droplets, through an orifice in the liquid chromatograph column at a constant rate and over a common path, said emitted droplets being imparted with an electric charge, the amount of said electric charge acquired by each droplet being dependent upon the nature and quantity of the solute carried by said droplet:
• passing each of said droplets through an electric field which causes each of said droplets to deflect off said common path by a distance dependent on the solute burden in said droplet;
• providing an electrically neutral, relatively non conducting recording medium;
• positioning said recording medium so that said droplets passing through the electric field will impinge on said recording medium;
• processing said recording medium so as to render said impinging droplets visible.

A method of detecting the solute burden of effluent of a liquid chromatograph column comprising the steps of:

• emitting an effluent liquid stream, as uniformly sized spherical droplets, through an orifice in the liquid chromatograph column at a constant rate and over a common path, said emitted droplets being imparted with an electric charge due to the spray electrification effect on each droplet occurring as each droplet is emitted from the liquid chromatograph column, the amount of said electric charge acquired by each droplet being dependent upon the nature and quantity of the solute carried by said droplet;
• detecting said electric charge of each droplet of said series of droplets by passing said each droplet through a deflector means positioned parallel to said common path of travel of said droplets so that said droplets travel through said deflector means;
• creating a transverse electric field within said deflector means for deflecting each droplet from said common path of travel;
• recording the solute burden of each droplet in said series of droplets as a function of said detected electric charge of each droplet.