Science has come to help the people who are very particular about their alcohol. Different types of alcohols taste differently due to the different volatile compounds present in them. Now researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US have developed a new disposable, color-changing sensor that can accurately identify different alcohols.

This working of these colourimetric test strips is based on the interactions between the sensors and analyte molecules present in the alcohol. The sensor array has several chemically reactive dyes.

The interaction between the sensor ad the alcohol results in binding of different analyte molecules to the individual reagent areas with different degrees of strength, which results in changing of the color of reagents.

A hand-held device can then be used to analyze the characteristic pattern of color changes. According to researchers, their new array is able to differentiate numerous different ketones and aldehydes at concentrations below 0.0001 per cent.

The sensor array for spirits includes indicators for ketones, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, amines, sulfides, polyphenols. All these aromatic compounds are responsible for creating the unique flaor of spirits.

Aldehydes and ketones are the organic compounds which have a carbonyl functional group, C=O. The carbon atom of this group has two remaining bonds that may be occupied by hydrogen or alkyl or aryl substituents. If at least one of these substituents is hydrogen, the compound is an aldehyde. If neither is hydrogen, the compound is a ketone. The IUPAC system of nomenclature assigns a characteristic suffix to these classes, al to aldehydes and one to ketones.

The detailed results of the study have been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.