Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) of Phenolics for the Inhibition of 2-Phenylethylamine Formation in Model Systems Involving Phenylalanine and the 13-Hydroperoxide of Linoleic Acid.

Lipid hydroperoxides have been shown to produce amino acid decarboxylations. Because thermal decomposition of lipid hydroperoxides produces free radicals and reactive carbonyls, and phenolic compounds have been shown to scavenger both of them, phenolics are expected to inhibit these reactions and this protection should depend on the structures of the involved phenolics. In this study, the effect of a wide array of phenolics and their mixtures on 2-phenylethylamine formation by phenylalanine degradation in the presence of the 13-hydroperoxide of linoleic acid (LOOH) was studied. LOOH increased considerably the formation of the amine, and phenolics mostly exhibiting an inhibitory role that depended on their structure. Thus, 1,3-diphenols decreased the formation of 2-phenylethylamine because of their carbonyl trapping abilities. In contrast, the inhibition of 1,2- and 1,4-diphenols was lower because they could not trap the reactive carbonyls produced by LOOH decomposition. In addition, their free radical scavenging was likely accompanied by the formation of quinones, which acted as reactive carbonyls. The function of all other phenolics could be calculated by adding the individual functions of the different diphenols present in their structures. In fact, experimental values obtained for both mixtures of phenolics and complex phenolics correlated well with the calculated values obtained from their constituting diphenols. All of these results suggest that, when the reaction mechanisms are known, it is possible to predict the behavior of complex phenolics on the basis of their structure.