Toxicological patterns of alcoholic beverages based on congeners gaschromatographic analysis

A. Jung, H. Jung, D. L. Muntean,

Abstract: We may find a number of volatile congeners in alcoholic beverages, mainly high-class alcohols. Identification and quantification of these substances may reveal certain patterns useful both in drivers’ blood alcohol concentration interpretation and in forensic pathology for toxicological evaluations. Aim of our study is to detect structural patterns in most frequently consumed beverages in Romania, namely brandies, home-made fruit spirits (tuica) and beers. We analyzed 31 samples of beverages using a gas-chromatographic self-validated method for qualitative analysis of congeners (methanol, acetone, 1 and 2-butanol, n-propanol, isobutanol, 2-methyl-1butanol) and quantitative determination. Principal component analysis was the statistical method used for identification of trends in the multidimensional data set. Beers showed the most homogenous cluster while home-made spirits revealed a large dispersion and variation regarding their chemical structure. Methanol is the principal component of discrimination efficiency among the groups of beverages.
Keywords: volatile congeners, cluster, alcoholic beverages, chemical structure