A Lesson Learnt from Food Chemistry—Elevated Temperature Triggers the Antioxidant Action of Two Edible Isothiocyanates: Erucin and Sulforaphane

Abstract

In this communication we demonstrate that two natural isothiocyanates, sulforaphane (SFN) and erucin (ERN), inhibit autoxidation of lipids at 140 °C but not below 100 °C. This effect is due to thermal decomposition of ERN and SFN to sulfenic acids and methylsulfinyl radicals, species able to trap lipidperoxyl radicals. Our observations shed new light on thermal processing of vegetables containing these two isothiocyanates.

Keywords

• isothiocyanates
• sulforaphane
• erucin
• antioxidants
• radicals