While the production processes of producing whiskey are tightly regulated, the distillation and cask aging impart many of the important compounds responsible for the complex flavor that make each mature whiskey unique in taste and aroma. Understanding the chemical components of a whiskey may help producers make a better product and/or aid in the protection of this high value product. There are several well established methods for the characterization of the aroma compounds in foods and beverages such as solid phase micro-extraction or liquid-liquid extraction. Methods that can rapidly confirm authenticity are of interest. Here, aroma compounds in whiskey (<i>n</i> = 15) were extracted using ultrasound-assisted dispersed liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) where 500 μL of whiskey (which contains ethanol, an excellent dispersive solvent) were mixed with 500 μL water and 200 μL chloroform (as extraction solvent). The chloroform extract was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with data manipulation by AMDIS (Automated Mass Spectral Deconvolution and Identification System) to allow for comparisons between whiskey samples and creation of a mass spectral (MS) library of target compounds. Aroma compounds commonly reported in the literature (furfural, isoamyl acetate, 5-methyl furfural, ethyl esters, phenylethyl alcohol, whiskeylactone, and vanillin) were tentatively identified based upon the match to the MS library. The integration of this green chemistry DLLME method into an upper-division analytical chemistry course is discussed.

Analysis of aroma compounds in whiskey by DLLME-GC/MS

249th National Meeting (2015)

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