Factors affecting the maillard browning reaction between sugars and amino acids. Nonenzymic browning of dehydrated orange juice

Abstract

Color formation in sugar-amino acid mixtures has been used as an index to determine the effect of various factors in contributing to the storage deterioration through the nonenzymic Maillard browning reaction of such food products as dehydrated orange juice. Of the free amino acids present in orange juice, 4-aminobutyric acid was found to be particularly significant in causing the rapid and extensive formation of colored products. It is shown that the initial phase of this reaction, leading to loss of D-glucose and 4-aminobutyric acid, can be readily monitored quantitatively by gas-liquid chromatography of the per- (trimethylsilyl)ated reaction mixtures; good correspondence is observed between the results from model systems and those obtained with dehydrated orange juice. © 1974, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.