PHOTOCHEMICAL DEGRADATION OF TRYPTOPHAN IN MODEL WINE: IMPACT OF HEAVY METALS AND OXYGEN ON 2-AMINOACETOPHENONE FORMATION

Abstract

The wine industry worldwide faces more and more challenges due to climate change, such as increased dryness in some areas, water stress, sunburn and early harvesting during hot summer temperatures¹. One of the resulting problems for the wine quality might be a higher prevalence of the untypical aging off-flavor (ATA)². A substance, which Rapp and Versini made responsible for ATA, is the 2-aminoace-tophenone (2-AAP)³. 2-AAP in wine causes a naphthalene, wet towels, wet wool, acacia flower or just a soapy note⁴. The formation of the substance occurs via the degradation of tryptophan and the trypto-phan metabolite indole-3-acetic acid. The formation of 2-AAP is promoted by abiotic stress factors such as drought, low nitrogen content and high temperature, and by microorganisms via riboflavin, known as a photosensitizer5. In this study, the influence of other abiotic factors, namely oxygen and heavy me-tals, on the light-induced degradation of tryptophan to 2-AAP was investigated. Model wine with 0.53 µmol/l riboflavin was treated with UV-C light to stimulate tryptophan degradation. A linear increase in the intensity of UV-C light exposure caused a linear increase of 2-AAP. Increasing oxygen in the model wine supported the production of 2-AAP verifying that tryptophan degradation via riboflavin follows an oxidative pathway. Indeed, 2-AAP production decreased by 81 % when oxygen was reduced from saturation to anoxic conditions. It was also found that the presence of heavy metals led to a significant reduction of 2-AAP: 0.1 mmol/l Fe²+ decreased 2-AAP by 63 %, and 0.1 mmol/l Cu²+ decreased 2-AAP by 32 %. This observation can be explained by the Fenton reaction which requires Fe²+ and/or Cu²+ to produce – in this case – acetaldehyde from ethanol. It is suggested that the Fenton reaction acts as a competitive reaction to the photosensitized production of 2-AAP. As a lateral observation, the model wine in this study turned yellow after being UV-C radiated. The LC-MS signal suggested the substance lumichrome; its signal increased with the more yellow color of the model wine. Accordingly, riboflavin could not only act as a photosensitizer but also degrade itself after exposure to light.