Determination of free medium-chain fatty acids in beer by stir bar sorptive extraction.

Free medium-chain fatty acids in beer originate from raw materials, mainly from the fermentation activity of yeasts, and can influence beer taste, vitality of yeasts and also the foam stability of beer. This study presents the development of the method for the determination of free fatty medium-chain acids including caproic acid, caprylic acid, capric acid and lauric acid in beer or wort using stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE). The combination of this extraction technique with solvent back extraction of the extracted analytes and subsequent gas chromatographic analysis with flame ionization detection was used for the determination of these compounds. The influences of different solvent back solutions, sampling time, solvent back extraction times and different contents of ethanol were studied. The method had high repeatability (RSD <6.7%), good linearity (the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.9963 for quadratic curves over the concentration range 0.5-8.0mg/l) and recoveries 57-89%.

Analysis of free fatty acids in beer: comparison of solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, and stir bar sorptive extraction.

Solid-phase extraction (SPE), solid-phase microextraction (SPME) using carbowax/divinylbenzen fiber, and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) followed by solvent back extraction have been used for the extraction of free fatty acids (caproic, caprylic, pelargonic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids) from beer. Subsequent gas chromatographic analyses with flame ionization detection were used for the determination of these compounds. Medium-chain fatty acids (caproic-lauric acid) were determined as free acids, and long-chain fatty acids (myristic-linolenic acids) were determined as methyl esters after methylation by BF(3)-methanol 14%. Linearity, recovery, and repeatability of all methods have been determined and compared with the SPE method used as a reference (SPME method was used only for medium-chain fatty acid determination). All three procedures provide similar working parameters characterized by high repeatability (2.3-16.3%) and good linearity (correlation coefficient ranging from 0.9919 to 0.9999). Results of beer analyses obtained by using these three methods were highly correlated. Although all methods provide compatible alternatives, for medium-chain fatty acid analysis SPME may be a more appropriate technique due to its operational simplicity, repeatability, and low cost.

RP-HPLC analysis of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beverages and plant extracts using a CoulArray detector.

Methods were developed for the analysis of natural antioxidants including phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beverages and plant extracts using gradient HPLC with multi-channel electrochemical coulometric detection. Suitability of various reversed-phase columns for this purpose was compared; pH and mobile phase gradients were optimized with respect to the separation selectivity and sensitivity of detection. Because of different target compounds in various sample types, the overlapping resolution maps and the normalized resolution product approaches described earlier were used to select optimum columns and gradients to suit the analysis of the individual sample types. The methods were applied to the analysis of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in beer, wine, tea, and yacon extracts. 32 phenolic compounds were identified and determined, including derivatives of benzoic and cinnamic acids, flavones, and a few related glycosides. Eight-channel CoulArray detection offers high selectivity and sensitivity with limits of detection in the low microg L(-1) range, at least an order of magnitude lower than single-channel coulometric detection using the Coulochem detector. No special sample pretreatment is necessary and, because of the compatibility of the CoulArray detector with gradient elution, phenolic antioxidants of different polarities can be determined in a single run. In addition to the retention times, the ratios of the areas of the pre-dominant and post-dominant peaks to the area of the dominant peak can be used for improved identification of natural antioxidants.