Comparison of Aroma Compounds in Whisky by SPME–GC×GC–TOF MS/FID

Over 1000 compounds from a wide range of chemical classes are known to contribute to the aroma of whisky, and these include alcohols, phenolics, fatty acids, esters, lactones, aldehydes and nitrogen-containing compounds. It is important to be able to confidently identify these volatiles, for quality control and authentication purposes, as well as in the engineering of new aromas. This study demonstrates the high performance of a flow-modulated GC×GC–TOF MS system, coupled with sample preparation by solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME), for the separation and identification of trace volatiles in three brands of whisky.