Analytica Chimica Acta 563 (2006) 310–314 Determination of total chloroanisoles in different kinds of cork stoppers M. Riu, M. Mestres, O. Busto, J. Guasch ∗ Departament de Qu´ ımica Anal´ ıtica i Qu´ ımica Org` anica, Unitat d’Enologia del CeRTA, Facultat d’Enologia de Tarragona, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, c./Marcel·l´ ı Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain Received 12 August 2005; received in revised form 10 October 2005; accepted 19 October 2005 Available online 1 December 2005 Abstract This paper deals with the application of a new headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) method developed in order to analyse the total amount of chloroanisoles in different kinds of cork stoppers (natural, agglomerated and sparkling wine stoppers). This parameter must be determined because these compounds can migrate from cork to wine giving it unpleasant musty taint and, therefore, undermine its organoleptic quality. Unlike the releasable amount of chloroanisoles, the total amount of chloroanisoles has no dependence of the method used for its determination so it can be used as a quality control parameter. The application of this method allowed the simultaneous determination of 2,4-dichloroanisole, 2,6-dichloroanisole, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, 2,3,4,6-tetrachloroanisole and 2,3,4,5,6-pentachloroanisole. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cork; Chloroanisoles; Solid-phase microextraction; Gas chromatography; Total amount of chloroanisoles; Quality control 1. Introduction Musty taint, traditionally known as cork taint, is a serious problem for both wine and cork industries worldwide. It affects between 0.1 and 10% of European bottled wines [1]. Several compounds have been identified as possible contributors to cork taint, but chloroanisoles, specially 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), are the mayor impact components [2–4]. Chloroanisoles usually arise from O-methylation of chlorophenols, as a detox- ification method, by different microorganisms, especially fungi, under particular conditions of temperature and humidity. Chlorophenols are often present because of the packaging, the fungicides, herbicides or wood preservatives that are used in wineries or some cork stopper manufacturers’ prac- tices, such as using hypochlorite as a cork bleaching agent [5]. Although there are studies that demonstrate the migration of chloroanisoles from cork to wine is not very high [6,7], this migration is enough to undermine the quality of wine. This fact is due to the musty off-flavour of these compounds and also to ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 977 55 84 96; fax: +34 977 55 84 46. E-mail address: qaenol@urv.net (J. Guasch). their low sensory thresholds (i.e. TCA sensory threshold in wine is between 1 and 50 ng l -1 [3]). This serious and costly problem is raising the aware- ness of researchers who have developed several methods for determining chloroanisoles in wines [5,8–16]. However, since chloroanisoles are introduced to wine via defective cork clo- sures, it becomes necessary an effective control of chloroanisole contents in cork stoppers as well. Several authors analysed the TCA content in contaminated wine and in its cork stopper [17–19]. The values of TCA found by these different researchers in wine ranged between 0.2 and 41.0 ng l -1 , whereas the concentration of this compound in the cork stopper ranged from 1.0 to 125 ng cork -1 . Other authors reported the results on percentage, but in these studies the values also ranged between large intervals. For instance, Tanner and Zannier [20] reported that 50% of the TCA present in a cork stopper could be transferred to wine; Chˆ atonnet et al. [21] found that this value was less than 6% and, on their own, Juanola et al. [7] got migration values from 1 to 54%, depending on the spiking method. Therefore, there are not conclusive results related to the relationship between the total chloroanisoles content in wine and in its cork stopper. Because of their volatility, gas chromatography (GC) is the most suitable technique for determining chloroanisoles, 0003-2670/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aca.2005.10.045