The Maillard reaction is one of the most important routes to flavor compounds in cooked foods. The initial stages of the reaction involve the condensation of the carbonyl group of a reducing sugar with an amino compound, followed by the degradation of the condensation products to give a number of different oxygenated compounds. The subsequent stages of the Maillard reaction involve the interaction of these compounds with other reactive components such as amines, amino acids, aldehydes, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. These additional reactions lead to many important classes of flavor compounds including furans, pyrazines, pyrroles, oxazoles, thiophenes, thiazoles and other heterocyclic compounds. The large number of different reactive intermediates that can be generated in the Maillard reaction gives rise to an extremely complex array of volatile products. This review discusses some of the reaction pathways by which the important aroma compounds of different cooked foods may be formed.
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