The impact of singlet oxygen on lipid oxidation

✍ Scribed by Stefaan Van Dyck

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 460 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0956-666X
• DOI: 10.1002/lite.200700090

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Oxidation plays a fundamental role in the reduction of the quality of fats, oils and many other principal ingredients in food or animal feed. A significant amount of research data is available on the impact of autoxidation caused by the most abundant and stable form of oxygen: triplet oxygen (^3^O~2~). An alternative oxidation process occurs when lipids are exposed to a light source, even at low temperatures. Many molecules are able to absorb energy from light after which this energy is transferred to an oxygen molecule. This process leads to the conversion of the most abundant triplet oxygen into the more reactive singlet oxygen (^1^O~2~). Both types of oxygen react very differently with lipids and other nutrients due to the dissimilarity in their fundamental chemical structure. This allows researchers to study the different possible oxidation pathways and consequently to develop potential strategies to delay oxidation for the improvement of shelf life.