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Methanol, often present in spirits prepared with industrial solvents like wood alcohol, can lead to blindness and even death when ingested. After an incident involving methanol-laced alcohol in the Czech Republic, they adopted Raman spectroscopy as the preferred method for identifying and quantifying methanol in contaminated spirits, following an exhaustive study using various screening tools. This Application Note discusses the reasons why Raman spectroscopy is the ideal choice for this application and shows a real-world example of Raman analysis of methanol-laced rum.

Psychoactive gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and its prodrug gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) are substances that are increasingly abused as date-rape and recreational (party) drugs. Since the non-controlled GBL converts into the illicit GHB both in-vivo and in-vitro, their legal distinction is of crucial importance.For the forensic determination of illegally added GHB and GBL in commonly consumed beverages, this work presents a simple and sensitive method that employs direct-injection ion chromatography combined with spectrophotometric detection. The method allows to trace GHB-GLB interconversion, whether in vivo or in vitro lactone cleavage or intramolecular GHB esterification, and thus complies with pertinent requirements of law enforcement agencies.

Non-enzymatic ethanol sensor based on a nanostructured disposable screen-printed electrode.

Wine sometimes contains heavy metals which can be precipitated out by the addition of potassium ferrocyanide. Generally, these are quantities of iron ranging between 1 and 5 mg, and exceptionally up to 9 mg Fe/L. Zinc, copper, and lead – in descending order of content – may also be present. To estimate the quantity of potassium ferrocyanide necessary for the «décassage of the wine», only very complicated and relatively inaccurate methods have been described until now.This Bulletin permits accurate results to be obtained easily with a simple instrumentation. The results are available in a short time.

It has been known for years that consuming too much nitrates from foodstuffs can result in cyanosis, particularly for small children and susceptible adults. According to the WHO standard, the hazard level lies at a mass concentration c(NO3-) ≥ 50 mg/L. However, more recent studies have shown that when nitrate concentrations in the human body are too high, they can (via nitrite) result in the formation of carcinogenic and even more hazardous nitrosamines.Known photometric methods for the determination of the nitrate anion are time-consuming and prone to a wide range of interferences. With nitrate analysis continually increasing in importance, the demand for a selective, rapid, and relatively accurate method has also increased. Such a method is described in this Application Bulletin. The Appendix contains a cselection of application examples where nitrate concentrations have been determined in water samples, soil extracts, fertilizers, vegetables, and beverages.

Potassium is one of the most common elements and can be found in many different minerals and other potassium compounds. It is of importance for humans, animals and plants as it is an essential mineral nutrient and involved in many cellular functions like cell metabolism and cell growth. For these reasons, it is important to be able to declare the potassium content of food or soil to reduce problems that may arise by a potassium deficiency or extensive consumption.This bulletin describes an alternative to flame photometric method using an ion selective electrode and direct measurement or standard addition technique. Several potassium determinations in different matrices using the combined potassium ion-selective electrode (ISE) are presented here. Additionally, general hints, tips and tricks for best measurement practice are given.

The Bulletin describes the determination of the following parameters in wine: pH value, total titratable acid, free sulfurous acid, total sulfurous acid as well as ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and other reductones.

Determination of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, putrescine, cadaverine, and histamine in a wine sample using cation chromatography with direct conductivity detection.

Determination of copper, zinc, iron(II), and manganese in red wine using cation chromatography with UV/VIS detection after post-column reaction with PAR.

Biogenic amines and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) are indicators for the quality of grape fermentation. The consumption of amine-rich wines often leads to headaches, which is why the amine concentrations in wine must be monitored. This Application Note describes the determination of trimethylamine N-oxide, putrescine, cadaverine and histamine, in addition to various standard cations, with the aid of the Metrosep C 6 - 100/4.0 column and subsequent direct conductivity detection.