ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Food. Sci. Technol.
Sec. Food Safety and Quality Control
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frfst.2025.1552638
Formation Kinetic Study of Thermally Induced Trans and Conjugated Linoleic Acids in Corn Oil
Provisionally accepted
- Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
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Corn oil, known for its high linoleic acid (LA) content, is vulnerable to isomerization during thermal processing, resulting in the production of harmful trans-linoleic acid isomers (TLAs) and small amounts of beneficial conjugated linoleic isomers (CLAs). This study examined the formation kinetics of TLAs and CLAs in corn oil heated to temperatures between 180 and 240 °C, utilizing infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography to clarify the reaction's rate-determining steps and underlying mechanisms. The results indicated the predominant generation of three distinct TLA and CLA isomers, with their levels showing a positive correlation with both the temperature and duration of heating. Importantly, the formation of mono-TLA isomers emerged as the rate-controlling step in the isomerization process, while the presence of O2 accelerated the formation of both TLA and CLA isomers. This study provided mechanistic insights and predictive models for the formation of TLA and CLA isomers under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These findings imply that modulating the synthesis of mono-TLA isomers could serve as an effective strategy for reducing TLA formation and enhancing the conversion of TLA to CLAs in heated corn oil, thereby establishing a theoretical framework for precisely regulating TLAs.
Keywords: Corn Oil, Linoleic Acid, isomerization, Kinetics, gas chromatography, Infrared Spectroscopy
Received: 28 Dec 2024; Accepted: 17 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu, He, Liang, Li, Huang, Hu, Gu, Wang and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yumeng Hu, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
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