Kinetic Aspects of the Blue Pigment Formation in a Maillard Reaction between D-Xylose and Glycine

Abstract

The production of blue pigments in the early stage of a Maillard reaction between D-xylose and glycine was kinetically analyzed to be associated with the mechanism for polymerization. An ionpairing and reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for quantitatively tracing the blue pigment formation. The experiment with varied composition revealed that the reaction obeyed the following relationship:
v = k [D-xylose]² • [glycine]²
This equation could also be derived according to the stationary state theory. Based on Arrhenius plots, the activation energy was found to be 17.5 kcal/mol. The application of the transition state theory provided - 17.4cal/deg/mol for the activation entropy. A reaction scheme for the production of blue pigments is proposed on the basis of this kinetic analysis.