Simultaneous determination of volatile organic compounds in commercial alcoholic beverages by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection

A simple and fast method was developed for the determination of volatile organic compounds in alcoholic beverages. Eleven volatile organic compounds (acetaldehyde, methanol, 2-propanol, tert-butanol, 1-propanol, ethyl acetate, 2-butanol, isobutanol, 1-butanol, 3-methyl-1butanol, and 2-methyl-1-butanol) in alcoholic beverages were analyzed with a simple direct-injection method using GC with flame ionization detection. These compounds should be monitored in the QC of production processes because they are detrimental to human health. The method was validated with four types of alcoholic beverages (beers, fruit wines, rice wines, and spirits) to confirm the versatility of the method. Linearity showed r2 values from 0.9986 to 0.9995, with LODs ranging from 0.010 to 1.000 mg/L. Precision and accuracy showed acceptable results, proving the effectiveness of the method. The developed method was applied to 40 commercial samples representing the four types of alcoholic beverages, and principal component analysis was performed to determine profiles of the volatile organic compounds, depending on the type of alcoholic beverage.