Enhanced Aroma Profiling of Adult Beverages using Immersive High-capacity Sorptive Extraction with TD-GC-MS

Historically, a wide variety of sampling methods have been used to extract volatiles from alcoholic beverages, with a key driver being the need to improve upon inefficient solvent extraction methods.

In this presentation, we employ immersive sampling using a high-capacity sorptive extraction device (HiSorb) in conjunction with TD-GC-MS to identify a range of VOCs and SVOCs in a number of different alcoholic beverages. Target compounds in the industry range from the typical flavor and fragrance compounds, which can be markers of a certain brand, to identification of low-concentration malodors.

For example, the yeast Brettanomyces (Dekkera) bruxellensis (‘Brett’) is part of the natural microflora of wine, but its growth can result in the production of unpleasant "medicinal," "phenolic," or "horse sweat" olfactory notes to wine (known as "Brett character"). These malodourous compounds can also exert a masking effect on the desirable "fruity" aromas.

With the use of HiSorb, odorants were detected at levels substantially below typical sensory threshold values, demonstrating the sensitivity resulting from the sorptive extraction and preconcentration processes, enabling early identification of a "Brett" spoilage issue, and allowing for prompt remedial action to be taken.

Presenter: Nicola Watson (Strategic Partnership Manager, Markes International Inc., Gold River CA, USA)

Nicola earned a Master's degree of Chemistry from the University of Leeds (England) and a Doctorate in Atmospheric & Analytical Chemistry from the University of York (England). Following this, she worked at a large forensics laboratory in the research and development team, utilizing many different sampling and analytical techniques to identify adulterants in food, human, and pharmaceutical matrices. She joined Markes International in 2007 as a product specialist and then moved through a number of roles to become the Americas Strategic Partnership manager. In her years at Markes, Nicola has specialized in many applications of thermal desorption (TD), provided training and applications assistance to customers, and presented at numerous of conferences on the use of TD in assessing VOCs and SVOCs of concern.