Identification of C8-C22 fatty acid esters in domestic fruit brandy samples

Abstract

The production and consumption of fruit brandy (rakija) in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a long tradition. The imperative of every brandy producer is to have a quality product that is appealing to the consumer. The aim of our work was to examine the content of C8-C22 fatty acid esters in three samples of domestic fruit brandy (labeled Sample I, II and III). Samples I and II were made from pear, while sample III was from plum. After liquid-liquid extraction, using the solvent system hexane and diethyl ether (1:1), analysis of fatty acid esters was performed using the GC/MS method (gas chromatography with a mass detector). In Sample I and Sample II, eleven C8-C22 fatty acids esters were detected, while in Sample III, eight esters were detected. In Sample I and Sample II, the following fatty acid esters have been identified: Ethyl benzoate, Ethyl octanoate, Ethyl nonanoate, Ethyl decanoate, Ethyl undecanoate, Ethyl dodecanoate, Ethyl tridecanoate, Ethyl tetradecanoate, Ethyl pentadecanoate, Ethyl hexadecanoate, Ethyl eicosanoate. In Sample III the following fatty acid esters have been identified: Ethyl hexanoate, Ethyl benzoate, Ethyl octanoate, Ethyl nonanoate, Ethyl decanoate, Ethyl undecanoate, Ethyl dodecanoate, Ethyl tridecanoate. In all three Samples Ethyl decanoate and Ethyl undecanoate had the highest percentage, which reached up to 11% of the total percentage of detected compounds. As our results show, the developed methodology is effective for the identification of C8-C22 fatty acid esters in fruit brandies, and its further development is needed to be a tool for the quality determination of fruit brandies.

Keywords

• volatile compounds
• gc/ms
• liquid-liquid extraction
• quality
• taste