Direct Analysis of Red Wine Using Ultra-Fast Chromatography and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Overview Red wine is a very complex mixture and a rich source of beneficial anti-oxidants. Identification and quantitation of these natural products is challenging. Ultra High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (U-HPLC) coupled to the Thermo Scientific LTQ Orbitrap XL mass spectrometer was used for analysis of French red wine, which enabled simultaneous detection and relative quantitation of the wine's anti-oxidant constituents. The phenolic compounds (such as quercetin) responsible for most of the health benefits associated with the consumption of red wine were identified and their variable content across two different harvest years was observed. Direct wine analysis approach was then applied to monitor the progressive changes in red wine after its exposure to air. This work demonstrated the feasibility of analyzing complex mixtures without any prior sample preparation by making use of the high resolving power of both U-HPLC and the OrbitrapTM mass analyzer detector.