Estudo da composição química molecular de compostos voláteis e semivoláteis em produtos cervejeiros alcoólicos, sem glúten e sem álcool

Abstract

Beer is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. Its chemical composition, rich in volatile and semi-volatile compounds (e.g. aldehydes, alcohols and esters), is primarily responsible for its sensory properties. Recently, the demand for nonalcoholic or gluten-free beers has increased due to social and health issues. In this study, an analytical method was developed to obtain molecular chemical profiles of volatile and semi-volatile compounds in beers in order to compare different brewing products and detect the difference between them through chemical markers. To do this, Experimental Design (DoE) tools were used to assess the analysis conditions by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and to prescribe volatile and semi-volatile compounds by the desalination-assisted liquid-liquid generation method. Using the developed method, five national beer brands were compared, three of which had the alcoholic and non-alcoholic product and two had the alcoholic product with and without gluten. The adjust of the tested chromatographic parameters, i.e. the evaluated factors did not significantly influence the analytical results, but showed the robustness of the method. The optimized method enabled the detection of 31 compounds. The statistical analysis of the real samples allowed the identification of 5 chemical markers capable of distinguishing between the presence and absence of alcohol and gluten. Finally, the use of GC-MS in combination with statistics (DoE) are valuable tools to obtain information about the molecular chemical profile of beer, which is of great importance for the brewing industry.