Classification of the Maillard reaction: A conceptual approach

To facilitate the study of the complex pathways of the Maillard reaction, a conceptual representation of the processes occurring during the reaction has been developed in which the Maillard reaction is described as proceeding by the formation and interaction of ‘chemical pools’. A collection of products arising from the decomposition of well-defined precursor(s) is termed a fragmentation pool, and a group of related chemical reactions and their products is termed an interaction pool. The pools that are formed from the decomposition of the sugar, amino acid and Amadori or Heyn's products are termed primary fragmentation pools. Further reactions among the populations of these pools lead to ‘interaction pools’. Three types of pool interactions are identified: ‘self-interaction’, ‘secondary interaction’ and ‘multiple-interaction’. In addition, the fundamental reactions that underlie the pool interactions are classified according to the type of chemical transformation effected. The importance of such classification lies in its ability to predict the formation of Maillard reaction products in model systems.