Investigation of noncovalent interaction between chelate-soluble pectin from muskmelon and selected volatile during thermal processing using multiple spectroscopy and molecular dynamics

The effect of thermal processing on the binding between methional and chelated-soluble pectin obtained from muskmelon was investigated. Particle size measurements demonstrated that the formed complex between methional and chelated-soluble pectin exhibited small sizes after thermal processing. Pyrene fluorescence analysis showed that the interaction between methional and pectin occurred in the hydrophilic region. Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis revealed that the interaction between chelated-soluble pectin and methional was driven by hydrogen bonding, which was mainly present between carboxyl groups of pectin and the aldehyde groups of methional using the molecular dynamics simulation. Thermal processing can increase the binding rate of methional to pectin to 16 %, affecting its release. This work provided new insight into controlling the volatile release from thermally processed food during thermal processing.