Structural changes of sinapic acid during alkali-induced air oxidation and the development of colored substances

Structural changes of sinapic acid were induced by air oxidation in aqueous solutions at pH 7–10 and followed by spectral and high‐performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis. Color properties of the sinapic acid solutions were determined by taking the transmittance spectra, calculating the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) 1931 tristimulus values, and converting to Hunter L a b values. Reaction rate constants for sinapic acid were determined by a kinetic study based on the quantitative results from HPLC analysis. These reactions were first order with respect to sinapic acid and fit the appropriate equation with a coefficient of R2 >0.97. Sinapic acid was converted to thomasidioic acid with reaction rate constants (k) of 8.54×10−6, 2.51×10−5, and 4.87×10−5 s−1 in phosphate‐boric acid buffers of pH 7, 8.5, and 10, respectively. Similar reactions in ammonium bicarbonate buffers were more than 10 times faster. With time, thomasidioic acid further converted to 2,6‐dimethoxy‐p‐benzoquinone and 6‐hydroxy‐5,7‐dimethoxy‐2‐naphthoic acid. Air oxidation of sinapic acid aqueous solutions caused darkening of the color for the system, with the 2,6‐dimethoxy‐p‐benzoquinone as a major color contributor.