A miniaturized fluorescence detector with a windowless flow cell using a light-emitting diode

A miniaturized fluorescence detector using a high-brightness light-emitting diode as an excitation source was constructed and evaluated. A windowless flow cell based on a commercial four-port cross fitting was designed to reduce the stray-light level and to eliminate the optical alignment. The observed detection limit for fluorescein was 26 nM in the continuous-flow mode. The error in the reproducibility of the responses was evaluated by the FIA method, and was found to be within 2% RSD.