Nickel (0) Complexes as Promising Chemosensors for Detecting the “Cork Taint” in Wine

Abstract

Abstract2,4,6‐Trichloroanisole (TCA) is well recognized as one of the most responsible molecules of cork taint, an organoleptic defect of wine which represents a serious problem for wine industries. Up to now, very few examples of TCA‐biosensors have been developed and we report herein a promising nickel (0) complex that can be employed as chemosensor for the TCA detection in cork stoppers. Among the three Ni (0) complexes studied in this work, complex Ni(0)(BINAP)(η2‐PhCN) (2) showed the best reactivity towards pure TCA affording the oxidative addition product 4 in four hours at room temperature. Compound 4 represents an appealing probe for the indirect quantification of TCA due to the presence of the characteristic UV‐adsorption band at 444 nm. Statistical studies on real samples confirmed that the presence of TCA can be detected by employing UV‐Visible spectroscopy, as demonstrated by PCA analyses which allowed distinguishing TCA‐contaminated samples from non‐contaminated ones. Even if the present study has to be considered a preliminary approach for the realization of a chemosensor usable in real systems, the here reported Ni (0)‐based sensing procedure represents the first examples of TCA chemical detection.