Physical and chemical interactions involved in several flavour compounds/food matrix systems

Food-matrix components, such as proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids interact with flavour compounds in different ways. Proteins bind flavour compounds mostly by hydrophobic interactions and possible hydrogen bonding, as illustrated by molecular visualisation. Addition of fat induces a great retention of hydrophobic compounds, which depend on the nature of fat, degree of unsaturation, hydrophobic chain length of fatty acids. Addition of hydrocolloids modifies the release of hydrophobic aroma compounds, due to a lower diffusion in the matrix. In jellified systems, gel structure not only affects partition coefficients but also mass transfer coefficients of flavour compounds.