Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science, Free University of Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.
Centro di Trasferimento Tecnologico, Fondazione Edmund Mach, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Italy.
Molecules. 2024 Oct 11;29(20):4820. doi: 10.3390/molecules29204820.
The Maillard reaction (MR) involves interactions between reducing sugars and amino acids or proteins during heating, producing Maillard reaction products (MRPs) that influence food flavour, aroma, and colour. Some MRPs exhibit antioxidant properties, prompting interest in their potential as natural food preservatives. This study aimed to develop a method for detecting and identifying antioxidant MRPs using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). By improving chromatographic conditions, the separation of antioxidant MRPs was optimised using known antioxidant MRPs as reference signals. This work also examined the effects of pH, reaction time, and different sugar-amino acid combinations on the production and composition of antioxidant MRPs. Results indicated that neutral to basic pH facilitated faster reactions, with pH 7 selected as optimal. A library of 50 signals for potential antioxidant MRPs was created, and the best combinations of amino acids and sugars for their production were identified. These findings pave the way for more precise analyses of antioxidant MRPs, with future research focusing on isolating and characterising specific MRPs to understand their structures and mechanisms, ultimately contributing to the development of functional foods with natural antioxidant properties.
美拉德反应（MR）涉及还原糖和氨基酸或蛋白质在加热过程中的相互作用，产生影响食物风味、香气和颜色的美拉德反应产物（MRP）。一些 MRP 具有抗氧化特性，这促使人们对其作为天然食品防腐剂的潜力产生了兴趣。本研究旨在开发一种使用高压液相色谱（HPLC）结合高分辨率质谱（HRMS）检测和识别抗氧化 MRP 的方法。通过改进色谱条件，使用已知的抗氧化 MRP 作为参考信号，优化了抗氧化 MRP 的分离。本工作还研究了 pH 值、反应时间和不同糖-氨基酸组合对抗氧化 MRP 的产生和组成的影响。结果表明，中性到碱性 pH 值有利于更快的反应，选择 pH 值 7 为最佳。创建了一个包含 50 个潜在抗氧化 MRP 信号的文库，并确定了产生它们的最佳氨基酸和糖的组合。这些发现为更精确地分析抗氧化 MRP 铺平了道路，未来的研究重点是分离和表征特定的 MRP，以了解它们的结构和机制，最终有助于开发具有天然抗氧化特性的功能性食品。
