Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in cachaça by HPLC with fluorescence detection

Cachaça is a distilled alcoholic beverage obtained from sugar cane fermentation. In this study, 25 brands of cachaça commercially available in Brazil were analysed for the presence of 5 PAHs (benz[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene). The methodology involved liquid–liquid extraction with cyclohexane and dimethyilformamide–water (9:1, v/v), clean up on silica gel column and determination by high performance liquid chromatography using fluorescence detection. PAHs peak identity was confirmed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Variable levels of summed PAHs were detected in the analysed samples, ranging from not detected to 1.94 μg/L. The results confirm the presence of PAHs in cachaça and suggest that contaminated sugar cane may be the source of PAHs in sugar cane spirits.