Abstract: In this study, lycopene from tomato fruits was separated on HPLC by reversed phase C 18 column under the conditions as: C18 stationary phase-DIAMONSIL TM column mobile phase-A ratio of acetonitrile to water (9:1) and mobile phase-B ethyl acetate; linear binary elution gradient: mobile phase B increased from 0 to 100% in the first 15 minutes and later kept 100% consequently; flow rate-1.0 ml/min; UV-VI detection wavelength 260 ～600nm; monitoring wavelength-475nm; column tem- perature-ambient temperature. The detection conditions applied for this sample of evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) were: drift temperature-45 ℃; carrier gas pressure-30psi; sprayer temperature-40 ℃; and gain-1. After variation in drift temperature, carrier gas pressure and sprayer temperature, the comparison of quantitative results from ELSD and UV-VIS detector was made with the reference of pure lycopene. Data from the comparison of results suggested that ELSD can be applied in lycopene quantification although its sensitivity is poorer than that of UV-VIS detector. Additionally, ELSD is cap able to exhibit information on colorless components from the sample and therefore has a bright future in the application of purity check for the extracts and products of lycopene.

Key words:  , ELSD； HPLC； lycopene；