Identifying new volatile compounds in toasted oak

Toasting wood to be used in barrels for aging wine produces a great number of volatile and odiferous compounds. Three new volatile odorous compounds i n toasted oak were identified. Analysis by highperformance gas chromatograp hy of toasted oak extracts, combined with olfactory detection, enabled vari ous chromatographic peaks with these specific aromas to be isolated. These same odors were simultaneously studied by heating glucose both with and wit hout proline and phenylalanine. Aromatic compounds of interest were identif ied thanks to a combination of gas chromatography and both mass and infrare d spectrometry. An analysis RMN was also used. Hydroxymaltol, 2,5-furanedic arbaldehyde, and furylhydroxymethyl ketone have been detected in extract of toasted oak wood. These molecules may be formed by direct pyrolysis of sug ar or Maillard reactions. The acetylformoine was not detected in extract of toasted oak wood, whereas it was detected in heated extracts of various su gars and sugars mixtures with amino acids.