Properties of Maillard Reaction Products

The chemical principle behind the antioxidant properties of Maillard reaction products is currently not well understood. It is assumed that these properties show both low molecular weight products and high molecular weight melanoidins. As the structure of melanoidins has not been clarified satisfactorily, it is difficult to explain the chemical nature of their antioxidant activity. The active structures are probably reductones and aminoreductones, bound in melanoidin molecules that reduce the products of autoxidation. One of a few identified reductone structures in real food melanoidins is 2,4-dihydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-l-(5-acetamino-5-methoxycarbonylpentyl)-3-oxo-2H-pyrrole bound by a peptide bond. This so-called pronyl-L-lysine (pyrrolinone... 

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