A kinetic model for the formation of acrylamide in a glucose-asparagine reaction system is proposed. Equimolar solutions (0.2 M) of glucose and asparagine were heated at different temperatures (120-200°C) at pH 6.8. Besides the reactants, acrylamide, fructose, and melanoidins were quantified after predetermined heating times (0-45 min). Multiresponse modeling by use of nonlinear regression with the determinant criterion was used to estimate model parameters. The proposed model resulted in a reasonable estimation for the formation of acrylamide in an aqueous model system, although the behavior of glucose, fructose, and asparagine was slightly underestimated. The formation of acrylamide reached its maximum when the concentration of sugars was reduced to about 0. This supported previous research, showing that a carbonyl source is needed for the formation of acrylamide from asparagine. Furthermore, it is observed that acrylamide is an intermediate of the Maillard reaction rather than an end product, which implies that it is also subject to a degradation reaction.
A kinetic model for the formation of acrylamide in a fructose-asparagine reaction system at initial pH 5.5 is proposed, based on an approach called multiresponse kinetic modelling. The formation of acetic acid and formic acid from the degradation of fructose and its isomer glucose was included in the proposed kinetic model. The kinetic model suggests that the effect of temperature on acrylamide formation with fructose is more due to the preceding steps with the formation of the Schiff base. The use of fructose and lower pH resulted in a higher yield of acrylamide (3%), suggesting that both can play an important role in acrylamide mitigation. Furthermore, these models have shown that, at high temperatures (120-200 °C), the Maillard reaction rapidly goes into the advanced stages, forming high amounts of organic acids and high molecular weight melanoidins. Overall, these mechanistic models provide more insight of the formation of acrylamide in a quantitative way.
