Fast determination of Chlorophenols at the ppt level. A new analytical tool for quality control of cork stoppers?

Chlorophenols (CPS) are the precursors of the main source for the so-called musty taint, especially in wine. Currently, different fast methods for the determination of the chloroanisoles (CAs), mainly 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the principal causative agent, are used for the quality control of cork stoppers. The methods available for CPS present either a long sample preparation step or are less representative for a batch, because of the very small sample size. We present a new fast method for the determination of chlorophenols and chloroanisoles; at the ppt level by GC-MSMS using in situ derivatization and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) preconcentration. We present first results of the development of a new tool for efficient quality control in the cork stopper production.