Characterization Of Volatiles In The Six Most Well-known Distilled Spirits

The characterization and quality are greatly decided by the volatile compounds, so itis necessary and significant to study and analyse volatile compounds of distilled spirits.The six most well-known distilled spirits in the world were chosen for the study. Aheadspace solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) method coupled to gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and sensory analysis were developed andapplied for the qualitative or semi-quantitative characterization of the volatile fractionand aroma characterization of the six distilled spirits. The main contents are as follows:Firstly, the characterization of the six distilled spirits and their history ofdevelopment were interpreted in this part. The researchs involved in analyzing the aromacompounds of alcohol beverage in domestic and overseas were stated.Secondly, HS-SPME, a rapid and simple method for the pretreatment of volatilecompounds in the six distilled spirits was developed and optimized. The results ofoptimization was that each liquor sample was diluted to12%(v/v) ethanol extracted byHS-SPME at50℃for15min and the analytes desorbed in the chromatograph injector at250℃over6min.Thirdly, HS-SPME coupled to GC-MS was developed and applied for thequalitative or semi-quantitative characterization of the volatile fraction of the six mostwell-known distilled spirits in the world. A total of159primary compounds wereidentified in the samples, which consisted largely of22alcohols,9aldehydes,5ketones,2carboxylic acids,61esters,5acetals,6furans,26terpenes and norisoprenoids,2sulfurs,2lactones and19benzene and derivatives. Among these compounds,25werecommon to all the distilled spirits samples, which mainly were esters, higher alcoholsand benzene and derivatives. The varieties of different volatiles in the six distilled spiritswere diverse. For instance, esters were the most abundant compounds in Chinese liquorand brandy, while gin was characterized mostly by the presence of terpenes andnorisoprenoids. Furthermore, the relative levels of different volatiles were various. Forinstance, ethyl hexanoate in Chinese liquor was far more than the other five spirits. Fourthly, aroma characteristics of six most well-known distilled spirits wereidentified by sensory analysis. As the results showed, the six distilled spirits owned theirtypical characteristics in sensory property. Combined with the results of GC-MS analysis,one conclusion can be drawn that the aroma characteristics of six distilled spirits weredetermined by the type and content of volatiles in different distilled spirits.