Sequential analysis of malic acid and both enantiomers of lactic acid in wine using a high-performance liquid chromatographic column-switching procedure.

A liquid chromatographic column-switching method for the sequential determination of malic acid and both enantiomers of lactic acid in wine is described. The procedure involves the heart cutting of lactic acid enantiomers from a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography chromatogram, retaining them, and back-flushing them through a chiral ligand-exchange column in which they are separated. The method is used to determine the concentration of lactic acid enantiomers in commercial wines. The results are in satisfactory agreement with those of other methods. The malic acid contents of various wines are also determined. The total analysis time for one experiment is approximately 10 min.