Abstract: A GC method was established to determine alcohols and esters in Chinese liquor by chromatographic separation on a medium polarity capillary column (SPB-1701, 30 m × 0.25 mm, 0.25 μm). Under optimized conditions, 24 compounds from Chinese liquor including alcohols and esters could be effectively separated. The limits of detection of the GC method for methanol, n-propanol, isobutanol, isopentanol, ethyl acetate and ethyl caproate as important ingredients for the control of safety and quality of Chinese liquor varied from 0.4 to 1.8μg/mL, the precision (relative standard deviation, RSD) for 6 replicate determinations were 0.04%－3.19%, and the average spike recovery rates were in the range of 93.74%－101.61%. This study demonstrated that SPB-1701 column has good tolerance to high temperatures and oxidation and high separation ability and is therefore more practical than polar capillary column.

Key words: Chinese liquor, alcohols, esters, capillary column, gas chromatography