Wine aroma is a complex gaseous mixture composed of various compounds; some of these molecules derive directly from the grapes while most of them are released and synthetized during fermentation or are due to ageing reactions. Among the latter class of compounds, carbonyls are the principal products of oxidation reactions which take place during the storing time. Volatile carbonyl compounds (VCCs) are related to aromatic nuances of vanilla, caramel, butter, honey, potato, orange, lemon, violets, cider and plum, which are pleasant scents characteristics of oxidized wines. However, apart from cases where it is a deliberate process, oxidation is commonly undesired and the presence of a relevant content of carbonyls is related to aroma defects. Because of that, monitoring the concentration of VCCs could be added as a quality control for the evaluation of a complete fermentation, correct winemaking style, and proper bottling and storage. In this research an HS-SPME method1 was optimized and validated with the aim to be used as a tool to achieve this goal. The use of a solvent-free extraction allowed to maximize the coherence to the Green Analytical Chemistry principles with a simultaneous achievement in performance, reliability and
robustness. In this method, all sample preparation steps were automated using the autosampler minimizing the human time consumption to enhance the scalability to routine analysis. As many as 46 VCCs (mainly linear aldehydes, Strecker aldehydes, unsaturated aldehydes, ketones, and many other) were the analytes under investigation. All compounds
showed a good linearity spanning from approximately 0.1 to 100 µg/L (R2>0.99). Intra-day and 5 days inter-days repeatability showed an RSD
Authors: Piergiovanni Maurizio1, Carlin Silvia2, Lotti Cesare2, Vhrovsek Urska2 and Mattivi Fulvio1,2
*corresponding author: m.piergiovanni@unitn.it
1Center Agriculture Food Environment (C3A), University of Trento, via Edmund Mach 1, San Michele all’Adige (TN) Italy
2Center Research and Innovation, Edmund Mach Foundation, Italy3Affiliation of the third
keywords: Carbonyls, oxidation, accelerated ageing, HS-SPME, quality control
