A means of analysing glycols, especially ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, by a method used for the determination of carbohydrates in alcoholic beverages

Abstract

This paper describes the separation of carbohydrates/glycerol/ethylene glycol/diethylene glycol in alcoholic liquids by TLC. An in situ reaction already proven in carbohydrate analysis is used for the detection among other things, of diethylene glycol in low, unpermitted concentrations and is compared with vanadium pentoxide derivatisation also described in the literature. Only the vanadium pentoxide reaction yields satisfactory results for diethylene glycol.