Determination of Some Volatile Compounds in Fruit Spirits Produced from Grapes (Vitis Vinifera L.) and Plums (Prunus domestica L.) Cultivars

Abstract

Fruit spirits contain a large array of volatile compounds among which the important role from toxicological aspect besides ethanol has methanol, aliphatic esters and fusel alcohols. This study evaluates the content of ethanol, ethyl acetate, methanol, isopropyl alcohol (2-propanol), n-propyl alcohol (propan-l-ol), isobutyl alcohol (2-methylpropan-1-ol), n-butyl alcohol (1-butanol), isoamyl alcohol (3-methyl-1-butanol) and n-amyl alcohol (pentan-1-ol) in different grapes and plum brandies industrially produced at Republic of Macedonia. Gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection (FID) was applied for the characterization of all investigated volatile compounds. The obtained results revealed that the highest methanol content was present in the samples of plum brandy, which is mainly due to the higher content of pectin in the raw material. The most important higher alcohols of grape and plum brandies were found to be: n-propyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol and isoamyl alcohol. In all the analyzed samples of grape and plum brandies, the most abundant was isoamyl alcohol which content ranged from 50.3 to 290.7 mg/100 mL a.a. Comparing the results with the data from the literature, it can be concluded that the concentrations of all investigated volatile compounds in the samples of grape and plum brandies are commonly acceptable. Keywords: Fruit Spirits, Gas Chromatography (GC), Methanol, Ethyl Acetate, Fusel Alcohols