IMPROVED CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF VOLATILE SULFUR-COMPOUNDS BY THE STATIC HEADSPACE TECHNIQUE ON WATER-ALCOHOL SOLUTIONS AND BRANDIES WITH CHEMILUMINESCENCE DETECTION

Volatile sulfur compounds are renowned for their nauseous character in alcoholic beverages at an extremely low concentration. In this work, a quantitative analytical method was developed for their detection with the static headspace technique using a Sievers chemiluminescence detector (SCD 355). It gives a linear response over the concentration range 10-100 mu g/l with a repeatability or reproducibility error of less than 5%. It was found that the headspace concentration of sulfur compounds in water-alcohol solutions or brandies rises with increasing ratio between the gas and liquid phase volumes and is proportional to the temperature. However, it diminishes with increasing ethanol content and is barely sensitive to the liquid-phase salt concentration.