Differentiation of rum and Brazilian artisan cachaça via electrospray ionization mass spectrometry fingerprinting

Abstract

Rum and cachaça are sugarcane distillates produced on large scales and of similar composition, and their differentiation is currently a subject of commercial dispute and a challenging analytical task. We have investigated the ability of direct-infusion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in the negative ion mode, i.e. ESI(-)-MS, to distinguish between samples of these distillates. ESI(-)-MS fingerprints were collected for some samples of Brazilian artisan cachaça, aged in two types of wooden casks, i. e. amburana (Amburana cearensis) and jequitibá (Cariniana estrellensis), and of commercial rum. The mass spectra were found to be very distinctive, showing sets of diagnostic ions for each type of sample, i. e. (1) cachaça aged in amburana (m/z 271, 313, 377) and jequitibá (m/z 171, 255, 455) casks; and (2) commercial rum (m/z 89, 97, 179, 255, 283). When applied to the ESI(-)-MS data, principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis split rum and cachaça samples into well-defined groups. Moreover, the two types of cachaça samples aged in wooden casks of amburana or jequitibá were also split into two distinct groups. Direct-infusion ESI(-)-MS can therefore be potentially applied to the rapid, simple, and accurate differentiation of these commercially important sugarcane distillates.

Flavour characterization of red wines by descriptive analysis and ESI mass spectrometry

“…Direct infusion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is a new, fast and robust technique that in recent years has been employed for the chemical characterization of alcoholic beverages such as beer (Araújo et al, 2005), whisky (Moller, Catharino, & Eberlin, 2005), wine (Catharino et al, 2006), rum and cachaça (de Souza, Augusti, Catharino, Siebald, Eberlin, & Augusti, 2007). The main advantage of ESI-MS is that the sample can be analyzed with no preparation such as extraction, isolation and/or concentration of its chemical compounds.…”

Evaluation of cardiovascular effects of edible fruits of <i>Syzygium cumini</i> Myrtaceae (L) skeels in rats

“…Although previous separation is needed particularly for precise quantitation, direct MS analysis using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) of complex mixtures has been shown to provide fast and reliable characterization of complex mixtures via distinctive chemical profiles The MS fingerprinting approach is used to characterize numerous samples and shown it to provide reliable qualitative distinction [11][12][13][24][25][26].…”

A feasibility cachaca type recognition using computer vision and pattern recognition

“…De Souza et al (2006) and de Souza et al (2007) uses gas chromatography to separate and characterize the odors in cachaca and rum. These two products of sugarcane were compared and patterns identified from a descriptive sensory analysis.…”