A Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction Method for the Determination of Some Secondary Compounds of Brazilian Sugar Cane Spirits by Gas Chromatography

A headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method was developed for the determination of secondary compounds from Brazilian sugar cane spirits, or cachaça, by GC-FID. An SPME holder with an 85 μm polyacrylate coating was utilized. The novel method is compared with an optimized method: liquid−liquid extraction (LLE). Both methods showed good linearity, but the repeatability for analyses done with the SPME technique (%RSD = 1.8−3.9) was better than for those done with LLE (%RSD = 10.3−11.7). The concentrations of the analytes obtained in the analysis of 12 cachaça samples with the SPME technique were higher than those obtained with LLE. In the SPME method the extraction wastes are smaller. Cachaça samples were qualitatively analyzed for GC-MS. Keywords: Brazilian sugar cane spirits; secondary compounds; GC-FID; SPME