A two-run heart-cut multidimensional gas chromatography method using flame ionization and mass spectrometry for automated and robust determination of nearly complete wine aroma-volatile profiles.

A quantitative analytical method capable of determining the concentrations of 81 aroma-relevant wine volatiles covering nine orders of magnitude was developed and validated in this study. The method is based on stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) of 200 µL of wine diluted with 1.8 mL NaCl brine with pH 3.5. Volatiles thermally desorbed from the stir bars were separated in two runs in a heart-cut multidimensional gas chromatographic system and quantified using either a flame ionization detector (FID) in the first dimension (27 aroma compounds) or a mass spectrometer in the second dimension (54 aroma compounds, transferred to 22 cuts). Typical limits of compound detection lay around 0.02 mg/L by FID or ranged from 0.001 to 0.30 µg/L by mass spectrometry detector, liying below the corresponding odor thresholds in all cases. Linearity, reproducibility, and recovery were considered satisfactory for most compounds, with typical R2 values of 0.989-0.999, relative standard deviation below 10 % for 37 compounds and between 10 and 20 % for 44 compounds, and recovery rates of approximately 100 % (85-109 %) for all but acetaldehyde. An analysis of 20 wine samples completed our validation of the method, showing that a single-sample preparation procedure combined with heart-cut multidimensional two-detector gas chromatography can determine wine volatile concentrations ranging from 350 mg/L of isoamyl alcohol to 3.8 ng/L of 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine.

Gas chromatographic-sulfur chemiluminescent detector procedures for the simultaneous determination of free forms of volatile sulfur compounds including sulfur dioxide and for the determination of their metal-complexed forms.

Three different procedures for the quantitative assessment of free and metal complexed volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) and for the determination of truly free SO2 have been developed, taking advantage of a GC-sulfur chemiluminescent detector system (GC-SCD) with cryotrapping. The inertness of the inlet systems, together with the column used (SPB-1 sulfur) makes it possible to obtain a non-saturated perfectly Gaussian peak for SO2, well resolved from H2S. In the main procedure, the injection of 1 mL of the headspace of a sample prepared in complete anoxia and equilibrated at 30 °C makes it possible to get highly sensitive signals for all VSCs and free SO2. Detection limits are 3, 35 and 60 ng/L for H2S, MeSH and EtSH, 13 µg/L for truly free SO2 (at pH = 3.4, or 0.46 µg/L for molecular SO2), and better than 1 µg/L for other relevant sulfur volatiles. Method precision is also satisfactory and linearity covers the whole range of occurrence of these compounds. A second procedure, not making use of the cryotrapping unit, gives also satisfactory results, although with higher detection limits (0.03, 0.25 and 0.37 µg/L for free H2S, MeSH and EtSH, respectively). For the analysis of free plus metal-complexed forms, it has been demonstrated that the headspace injection of the vapors on a 1:10 brine dilution of the sample heated at 70 °C for 25 min, gives good estimates of the free + metal-complexed forms of H2S and wine mercaptans.

Determination of ppq-levels of alkylmethoxypyrazines in wine by stirbar sorptive extraction combined with multidimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Alkylmethoxypyrazines are powerful odorants in many food products. A new method for analysing 3-isopropyl-2-methoxypyrazine, 3-s-butyl-2-methoxypyrazine and 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine has been developed and applied to wine. The analytes were extracted from 5 mL of wine using stirbar sorptive extraction followed by thermal desorption and multidimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis in a single oven. The extraction conditions were optimized in order to obtain a high recovery of the 3-alkyl-2-methoxypyrazines (MP). The detection limits of the method in all cases were under 0.08 ng/L, well below the olfactory thresholds of these compounds in wine. The reproducibility of the method was adequate (below 10%), the linearity satisfactory and the recoveries in all cases close to 100%. The method has been applied to the analysis of 111 Spanish and French wine samples. The levels found suggest that MP have a low direct impact on the aroma properties of wines from the regions around the Pyrenean massif.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry strategies for the accurate and sensitive speciation of sulfur dioxide in wine.

Understanding the chemistry of wine oxidation requires the accurate and sensitive quantitative determination of the most important molecular species which SO2 can form. An analytical strategy based in three independent static headspace GC-MS determinations is proposed in order to obtain information about the total, nominally free and truly free levels of SO2. Nominally free forms are directly determined after sample acidulation, total forms require the previous incubation at 100°C, and truly free forms are determined after preconcentration of the headspace of the undisturbed sample in an alkaline solution. The two first determinations provide results equivalent to those reported by the aeration-oxidation (A-O) method, with lower limits of detection (1mgL-1) and better repeatabilities (<4.0%). Results from the analysis of different wines revealed that levels of nominally free are systematically in excess than those of truly free SO2, which suggests that free SO2 determined by any method using previous acidulation includes at least two different species of SO2, which may have different antioxidant behavior.

Straightforward strategy for quantifying rotundone in wine at ngL(-1) level using solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry. Occurrence in different varieties of spicy wines.

This paper presents a straightforward methodology to quantify rotundone in wine at ngL(-1) level. This compound, responsible for the black pepper aromatic note, may have sensorial relevance in some wines due to its low odor threshold, estimated at only 16ngL(-1) in red wines. The proposed strategy is based on solid phase extraction and analysis by GC-MS. The detection limit value was 0.6ngL(-1), which is more than one order of magnitude below its odor threshold in wine. Matrix effects have not been found and a synthetic wine calibration was proposed. The precision of the method was evaluated in reproducibility terms, obtaining a very acceptable value (RSD 4%). The optimized and validated strategy was applied to quantify this molecule in thirty wines belonging to different varieties as Graciano, Maturana tinta, Schioppettino, Shiraz, Duras and Gamay. Two of these wines exhibited levels higher than 100ngL(-1).