Fate of Diethyl Pyrocarbonate in Wine

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Abstract
DEPC-C14 added to water hydroyzed completely to yield ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. However, when this compound was added to wine only a 97 to 98 per cent hydrolysis took place at pH 3.3, as measured by the labeled carbon dioxide given off. The 2 to 3 per cent DEPC-C14 which was unaccounted for is presumed to form pyrocarbonate complex with some wine constituent but this complex was hydrolyzed at pH 1.0 despite the fact that it is relatively stable at the normal pH range of wines. When labeled carbon dioxide was added to wine in the form of sodium carbonateC14 a small but consistent residual radioactivity was observed at pH 3.3 and also at pH 1.0. The carbonate complex formed in DEPC treated wines did not seem to be a reaction product between DEPC and organic acids, sugars, ethanol or higher alcohols in the wine; it is also unlikely that the amino acid content of the wine was responsible for this product since N-carbethoxyamino acids, the reaction products between DEPC and amino acids, were not hydrolyzed even by prolonged heating at pH 1.0. Tannic acid appeared to react with DEPC to give a complex which is hydrolyzable at pH 1.0 and it is suspected that this was at least a partial cause for the observed residue in DEPC-treated wine. The possibility of DEPC reacting with ammonium ions to form ethyl carbamate in wine is currently being investigated.

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