Determination of acetaldehyde, methanol and fusel oils in distilled liquors and sakes by headspace gas chromatography

In this study, a headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) method was carried out to determine the contents of acetaldehyde, methanol and fusel oils in distilled liquors and sakes from different countries. A DB-Wax column was adopted in HS-GC, which showed good linearity, high precision and accuracy and low LOQ and LOD on all the compounds. Results showed that distilled liquors contained higher levels of acetaldehyde with the values of 12.88-35.53 mg/L than sakes (0.83-29.13 mg/L). Methanol was only detected in a few distilled liquors with small amounts. Amyl alcohols, including isoamyl alcohol (2-methyl-1-butanol) and active amyl alcohol (3-methyl-1-butanol), isobutanol (2-methyl-1-propanol) and 1-propanol were the main fusel oils among the distilled liquors and sakes analyzed. Amyl alcohols contents were 2 to 4 times higher in Korean distilled liquors (203.01-428.66 mg/L) than that in Chinese distilled liquors (28.52-42.77 mg/L) and all the sakes (61.90-166.59 mg/L).