Application of purge and trap extraction and gas chromatography for determination of minor esters in cider

The validation of a method based on the purge and trap technique combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry–flame ionization detection has been carried out in order to apply it to the analysis of ciders. Although 49 compounds were identified, our work was focused on the study of nine minor esters, obtaining recoveries ranging between 93% for ethyl decanoate and 117% for ethyl 3-methylbutyrate, and a precision (RSDs) ranging between 2.2% for hexyl acetate and ethyl decanoate and 10.9% for isopentyl acetate. To demonstrate the feasibility of the procedure, the method was applied to the analysis of commercial ciders.