Destruction of Linoleate Hydroperoxide by Soya Extracts

Abstract

WHEN Balls et al. used a thiocyanate assay to estimate oxidation of linoleate by soya lipoxidase, their results suggested that under certain conditions part of the linoleate hydroperoxide produced by the enzyme was afterwards destroyed by crude, but not by purified, enzyme preparations¹. The reason for this has not been known, although Theorell et al. implied that spontaneous decomposition of hydroperoxide might be responsible². Recent work has indicated that there is in crude extracts of soya a factor which destroys β-carotene in the presence of linoleate hydroperoxide³. Here, we have examined the possibility that such a factor may also destroy linoleate hydroperoxide enzymically in the absence of β-carotene.