Pressure and Temperature Stability of 5-Methyltetrahydrofolic Acid:  A Kinetic Study

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2005-04, Vol.53 (8), p.3081-3087
• Main Authors: Indrawati, Van Loey, Ann, Hendrickx, Marc
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid; Biological and medical sciences; Drug Stability; folic acid; Food engineering; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; heat stability; heat treatment; Kinetics; Pressure; pressure stability; pressure treatment; Temperature; Tetrahydrofolates - chemistry; thermal degradation; Thermodynamics
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf048370k

Detailed kinetic studies of [6S] and [6RS] 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-CH3-H4folate) degradation during thermal (from 60 to 90 °C) and high pressure/thermal (from 30 to 45 °C; from 200 to 700 MPa) treatments were carried out. The results confirmed that the temperature and pressure induced degradation kinetics of [6S] 5-CH3-H4folate were identical (within 95% confidence interval) with those of [6RS] 5-CH3-H4folate. Under equal processing conditions, the estimated degradation rate constants (k), activation energy (E a), and activation volume (V a) values of [6S] and [6RS] 5-CH3-H4folate were the same (95% confidence interval). The modified thermodynamic model proposed by Nguyen and co-workers (J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003, 51, 3352−3357) to describe the pressure and temperature dependence of the rate constant for folate degradation was reevaluated. Keywords: 5-CH3-H4folate; kinetics; degradation; temperature; pressure