Abstract
Low molecular mass compounds containing purine or indole groups exhibit adsorption‐based retention characteristics when chromatographed on high performance size exclusion chromatography supports (Superose 12 and Superdex 75). Exploitation of this phenomenon enabled the development of a method for the quantitative analysis of purine nucleosides and free bases in wort and beer. Using this technique, a survey of 18 commercial beers showed the following range of variation of concentrations of these compounds: guanosine + deoxyguanosine 19–110 mg/L, adenosine + deoxyadenosine 3–43 mg/L, xanthine 1–41 mg/L, guanine < 1–11 mg/L and adenine < 1–7 mg/L. Analysis of wort and beer from a commercial brewery demonstrated a decline in both adenine and guanine and an increase in xanthine during the course of a typical fermentation.

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