Preliminary investigation on the relationship between fluorescence fingerprint and quality of Awamori

Abstract

Fluorescence fingerprints (FF) of Awamori and standard reagents of 4-vinylguaiacol (4-VG) and vanillin were measured. FFs of Awamori samples hadthree fluorescence peaks at excitation/emission wavelengths of 254. 3/290.4, 254.3/338.0 and296.2/340.3 nm. Principal component (PC) analysis of FF data revealed that young andaged samples were clearly separatedon a PC score plot. Comparison of peak positions of FFs of Awamori samples, standard reagents and PC loadings revealed that these peaks couldbe classified into six groups. Among these, two groups were found to be derived from 4-VG fluorescence, while other two groups were related to vanillin.