Micellar electrokinetic chromatography as an alternative to high-performance liquid chromatography for separation and determination of phenolic compounds in Japanese spirituous liquor.

A capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the separation and determination of vanillin, ferulic acid, vanillic acid and 4-vinylguaiacol in Japanese spirituous liquor. These phenolic compounds were extracted from Japanese spirituous liquor by solid-phase extractioin and were successfully separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate. MEKC required short analysis times and it could be an alternative technique for the analysis of vanillin, ferulic acid, vanillic acid and 4-vinylguaiacol in Japanese spirituous liquor. These phenolic compounds in five Japanese spirituous liquor samples were determined by this method. No significant difference in separation patterns and amounts was observed among the repeated analysis.