Flavor Compounds Formed during the Maillard Reaction

Abstract

The Maillard reaction is one of the most important routes to flavor compounds in cooked foods. The initial stages of the reaction involve the condensation of the carbonyl group of a reducing sugar with an amino compound, followed by the degradation of the condensation products to give a number of different oxygenated compounds. The subsequent stages of the Maillard reaction involve the interaction of these compounds with other reactive components such as amines, amino acids, aldehydes, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. These additional reactions lead to many important classes of flavor compounds including furans, pyrazines, pyrroles, oxazoles, thiophenes, thiazoles and other heterocyclic compounds. The large number of different reactive intermediates that can be generated in the Maillard reaction gives rise to an extremely complex array of volatile products. This review discusses some of the reaction pathways by which the important aroma compounds of different cooked foods may be formed.The term "Maillard Reaction" is used to describe the complex series of chemical reactions between carbonyl and amino components derived from biological systems. In foods it results in the production of flavors and the browning of the food. The reaction is named after the French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard who, in 1912, observed the formation of brown pigments when heating a mixture of glucose and lysine (1). The significance of the Maillard reaction for food is not confined to the production of color and flavor; reduction of nutritional value from the loss of essential amino acids other nutrients, such as ascorbic acid, the possible formation of toxic components, such as imidazoles, and the antioxidant properties of Maillard reaction products are all areas of much interest to the food industry. However, the reaction is one of the main sources of flavor in cooked foods and, with the increased availability of sophisticated analytical techniques, studies of the Maillard reaction as 0097-6156/94/0543-0104$06.75/0

Kinetics of Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine formation in aqueous model systems of sugars and casein

“…These compounds interact with other reactive components, such as amines, amino acids, aldehydes, thiols, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia in subsequent stages of the Maillard reactions. These additional reactions lead to important groups of flavour compounds, such as furans, pyrazines, pyrroles, oxazoles, thiophenes, thiazoles and other heterocyclic compounds (Mottram, 1994). All these compounds, together with melanoidins, were grouped as other advanced Maillard reaction products (MRPs) in the kinetic model.…”

Simplified Kinetic Scheme of Flavor Formation by the Maillard Reaction

“…Alternatively, SA can also represent the nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds such as pyrroline and pyrrolidine coming from the reaction of dicarbonyls with proline and hydroxyproline (Mottram 1994).…”

Post-slaughter changes in ATP metabolites, reducing and phosphorylated sugars in chicken meat

“…The role of IMP for the generation of meat odor and flavor has been demonstrated both in model systems and sensory studies (Farmer, Hagan, & Paraskevas, 1996;Mottram, 1994). Ribose-5-phosphate also causes important changes in beef odor, while glucose and glucose-6-phosphate cause much smaller effects (Farmer, Hagan, & Paraskevas, 1998;Mottram, 1998).…”