Lillian Ryan | 2026 I.S. Symposium
狈补尘别:听Lillian Ryan
Title: Shining a Light on Foodborne Carcinogens: The Photochemistry of 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine
Major: Chemistry
Minor: Statistical & Data Sciences
Advisor: Karl Feierabend
A significant factor contributing to the worldwide impact of cancer is exposure to mutagenic chemicals that increase the possibility of cancer-causing mutations occurring. This study targets a mutagen found in cooked meat that is a risk factor for cancer when ingested. The molecule in question, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), is part of a class of foodborne carcinogens known as heterocyclic aromatic amines. These substances form during the Maillard reaction: a chemical process responsible for 鈥渂rowning鈥 when food is heated. While many safe additives including spices and amino acids have shown the ability to inhibit the formation of PhIP, the compound鈥檚 absorption spectrum and conjugated heterocyclic rings suggest susceptibility to photodegradation by UV light. To study this possibility, PhIP was exposed to UV-B light in time increments in an aqueous and a solution containing other Maillard reaction products. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used to measure the concentration of PhIP in resulting samples, which allowed for the creation of kinetic plots and the calculation of an effective quantum yield. A computational model of photoexcited PhIP combined with first order kinetics suggest a direct photolysis reaction was observed. Results suggest that using UV irradiation to remove PhIP from cooked foods may be challenging due to inefficient kinetics and reaction rate decline in the presence of other Maillard reaction products. Future studies should focus on how the rate of PhIP degradation differs on the surface of actual cooked food samples and aim to find a quantitative measure of the selectivity of the process to PhIP relative to other non-target Maillard compounds.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
