Strecker aldehydes and α-keto acids, produced by carbonyl–amine reactions, contribute to the formation of acrylamide

The formation and disappearance of acrylamide in binary and ternary mixtures of asparagine (or acrylamide), carbonyl compounds and amino acid derivatives was studied in an attempt to understand the different reactions produced in mixtures of carbonyl compounds and amino acids. The carbonyl compounds assayed included glucose, 2,4-decadienal, mercaptopyruvic acid, phenylpyruvic acid, and phenylacetaldehyde. The assayed amino acids were cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, and phenylalanine, in addition to asparagine. All assayed carbonyl compounds were able to convert asparagine into acrylamide to various extents, and some of them were more reactive than glucose. In addition, they inhibited the Michael additions responsible for acrylamide disappearance. On the other hand, the addition of amino acids mostly resulted in decreases of acrylamide, although acrylamide also increased in some mixtures. Amino acids decreased acrylamide yield because of both their competence with asparagine for carbonyl compounds and their reaction with the produced acrylamide. However, carbonyl–amine reactions formed new carbonyl compounds, which increased acrylamide content. Therefore, asparagine degradation in the presence of amino acids is likely to be a balance between the decrease of degradation produced by the original carbonyl compounds and the increase of degradation due to the carbonyl compounds formed.