Fast determination of principal volatile compounds in distilled spirits

A fast determination of principal volatile compounds (acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, acetal, methanol, butan-2-ol, butan-1-ol and higher alcohols) by direct inject of the spirit drink has been developed. At a total analysis time of 23 min were quantified others 23 additional volatile compounds like ethyl esters, acetates higher alcohols, 1-hexanol, carbonyl compounds and others, responsible for the quality evaluation of the distillate. These compounds are very important for analysis of fermentation conditions, storage techniques and the quality control of the distillation process. The proposed method has been validated with r(2) values from 0.9988 to 0.9999 with limits of detection varied between 0.003 mg/L for isobutyraldehyde and 0.076 mg/L for diethyl succinate and acceptable reproducibility. The developed method was successfully applied to different samples of grape pomace protected by Specific Denomination Orujo de Galicia. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.