Compounds Formed by Degradation of Fatty Acids

Many of the compounds derived from enzyme-catalysed oxidative breakdown of unsaturated fatty acids may also be produced by autoxidation [23]. While the enzymatically produced hydroperoxides in most cases yield one hydroperoxide as the dominant product, non-enzymatic oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids yields a mixture of hydroperoxides which differ in the position of the peroxide group and in the geometrical isomerism of the double bonds [24]. As the number of double bonds increases, the number of oxidation and oxygen-addition sites increases proportionally and thus the number of possible volatile 

Unsaturated fatty acids also seem to undergo oxidative breakdown during cooking. The volatile compounds found in cooked products are generally the same as in the raw product. Frequently there are, however, quantitative differences between the cooked and the raw product. Flowever, not much is known about the thermal fatty acid breakdown, but possibly it involves decomposition of already formed hydroperoxides in the raw product and/or oxidation of already formed volatile compounds. For example, l-octen-3-ol occurs in raw cut mushroom, whereas l-octen-3-one cannot be detected. On the other hand, l-octen-3-one is found in relatively large amounts in cooked mushroom [26]. 

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