Mw. Sara Isabel da Fonseca Selgas Martins : Unravelling the Maillard reaction network

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13 Jun 2003 16:00
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula (gebouw 362), Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Promotor: prof.dr. W.M.F. Jongen (Product Design and Quality Management)prof.dr.ir. M.A.J.S. van Boekel (Product Design and Quality Management)

 The Maillard reaction is a cascade of consecutive and parallel reaction steps in foods. The knowledge of kinetic parameters, such as rate constants and activation energy, is necessary to predict its extent and, consequently, to optimise it.
Each of the chapters presented in this thesis can be seen as a necessary step to succeed in applying multiresponse kinetic modelling in a complex reaction, such as the Maillard reaction. Based on the established network for the intermediate stage a complete kinetic model for the whole glucose/glycine Maillard reaction pathways was developed. The estimated rate constants showed no dependence on the reactants initial concentration or ratio. However, in what pH was concerned, the reaction mechanism was highly influenced with respect to which route prevailed and to the type of products formed. For the first time it was showed consistent pH dependence for the estimated rate constants. For a pH drop = 1 unit, the pH dependence was well captured by a power law relation, in line with a theoretical analysis. All in all the model seemed to perform well and was consistent with the established reaction mechanism.
Multiresponse kinetic modelling has proved to be a powerful tool in unravelling complex chemical reactions such as the Maillard reaction. More than just deriving relevant kinetic parameters, multiresponse modelling gave also insight into the reaction mechanism. A main conclusion was that multireponse kinetic modelling goes beyond the Maillard reaction: it should also be applicable to other cascade reactions in foods.
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