Determination of Volatile Phenols in Grape and Wine by Gas Chromatography-Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

A method for the simultaneous determination of 19 volatile phenols in grape and wine was developed by solid phase extraction (SPE) combined with gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-QqQ-MS/MS) operated in the multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and was validated on grape juice and wine. The limits of detection and quantification of the developed method were found to be 0.02–1.01 μg/L and 0.08–3.36 μg/L, respectively. The method had a wide linear range with a correlation coefficient (R²) greater than 0.99. The recoveries of standard addition were in the range of 81.99%–122.72%. The method was proved to be highly sensitive, accurate and precise. Furthermore, this method was successfully applied to investigate the concentrations of volatile phenols in 10 grape samples and 10 wine samples. A total of 19 volatile phenols were detected in each of the 20 samples. The major volatile phenols in grape were vanillic acid, vanilaldehyde and 4-vinylphenol, while 4-ethylphenol, 3-ethylphenol and 4-vinylphenol were the major volatile phenols in wine. The content of volatile phenols in the measured samples was within the linear range of the method, indicating the universal applicability of this method.