Determination of primary amino acids in wines by high performance liquid magneto-chromatography

Eight amino acids (ethanolamine, glycine, alanine, ?-aminobutyric acid, leucine, methionine, histidine and asparagine) were identified and quantified in Spanish wines by high performance liquid magneto-chromatography (HPLMC) with UV-V spectrophotometry. For this method, the amino acids are first complexed with mono(1,10-phenanthroline)Cu(II) to confer them paramagnetic properties, and then separated by application of a low magnetic field intensity (5.5 mT) to the stationary phase contained in the chromatographic column. Principal components analysis of the results obtained grouped together the wine samples according to their denomination of origin: Ribera del Duero, Rueda or Rioja (Spain). Through cluster analysis, a series of correlations was also observed among certain amino acids, and between these groupings and the type of wine. These clusters were found to reflect the role played by the amino acids as primary or secondary nutrients for the bacteria involved in alcoholic and malolactic fermentation.