Investigation into the structural composition of hydroalcoholic solutions as basis for the development of multiple suppression pulse sequences for NMR measurement of alcoholic beverages

An eight-fold suppression pulse sequence was recently developed to improve sensitivity in (1) H NMR measurements of alcoholic beverages [Magn. Res. Chem. 2011 (49): 734-739]. To ensure that only one combined hydroxyl peak from water and ethanol appears in the spectrum, adjustment to a certain range of ethanol concentrations was required. To explain this observation, the structure of water-ethanol solutions was studied. Hydroalcoholic solutions showed extreme behavior at 25% vol, 46% vol, and 83% vol ethanol according to (1) H NMR experiments. Near-infrared spectroscopy confirmed the occurrence of four significant compounds ('individual' ethanol and water structures as well as two water-ethanol complexes of defined composition - 1 : 1 and 1 : 3). The successful multiple suppression can be achieved for every kind of alcoholic beverage with different alcoholic strengths, when the final ethanol concentration is adjusted to a range between 25% vol and 46% vol (e.g. using dilution or pure ethanol addition). In this optimum region, an individual ethanol peak was not detected, because the 'individual' water structure and the 1 : 1 ethanol-water complex predominate. The nature of molecular association in ethanol-water solutions is essential to elucidate NMR method development for measurement of alcoholic beverages. The presented approach can be used to optimize other NMR suppression protocols for binary water-organic solvent mixtures, where hydrogen bonding plays a dominant role.