Determination of volatile phenols in wine using high-performance liquid chromatography with a coulometric array detector

A new high-performance liquid chromatography method using a coulometric array detector to simultaneously analyse 4-ethylphenol, 4-ethylguaiacol, 4-vinylphenol, and 4-vinylguaiacol in wine was established. This procedure offers important advantages as it does not require sample preparation, with the exception of filtration, and performs chromatographic separation in short time, making control of wine production processes easier. The method is linear up to concentrations of 2000 μg L−1 and precise (R.S.D. < 3%). Limits of detection are low (1–3 μg L−1) and suitable for analytical requirements in the oenological field. When compared to gas-chromatography-flame ionisation detection, the proposed method gives similar results with a shorter execution time.