Analysis of Illicit Liquor by Headspace Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-GC-MS): A Preliminary Study.

Illicit liquors are illegally manufactured to evade taxes and represent the majority of unrecorded liquors in developing countries. Because there are no standards, the composition of illicit liquors varies greatly from sample to sample. In the current study, we analyzed the volatile components of 27 different illicit liquors via samples collected from various locations in the northern region of India. Ethanol content varied drastically and methanol was not present in any of the samples. The components found can be categorized into different groups, namely alcohols, esters, acids, nitrogen-containing components, ketones, and aldehydes. Some components-such as 1-propanol; 1-pentanol; 1-butanol; d-limonene; phenylethyl alcohols; anethole; and decanoic, octanoic, and pentanoic acids-were frequently encountered.