Analysis of selected carbonyl oxidation products in wine by liquid chromatography with diode array detection

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the detection and quantitation of acetaldehyde, glyceraldehyde, pyruvic acid, 2-ketoglutaric acid, and formaldehyde in wine, based on the formation of the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones, is presented. These carbonyl compounds often result from the chemical oxidation of major wine components, and are known to affect flavor and color stability. Their analysis in wine is complicated due to their instability and their tendency to react reversibly with bisulfite to form α-hydroxysulfonates. Published methods that break down the sulfonates for the quantitation of total carbonyls in wine involve alkaline hydrolysis of sulfite-bound carbonyls, but we show, for the first time, that this alkaline treatment step significantly increases the concentration of carbonyls during analysis. A solution based on oxygen exclusion is described. The technique offers good specificity, reproducibility (%RSD 0.45–10.6), and limits of detection (1.29–7.53 μg L−1). The method was successfully used to monitor concentration changes of these compounds in both white and red wines.