Cutting onions is arguably the worst part of cooking, the burning irritation you get in your eye becomes unbearable so much as to take a break mid way through chopping. So why is this? This is all to do with mixing molecules in the onion cells that aren't supposed to be together, an enzyme named Allilinase and a molecule called Allilin. Think of this like the type of adhesive that has two parts that you need combine together to make the glue active. When we cut onion we start the chain of reactions allowing the Allilin to come in contact with Allilinase to turn the Allilin into Sulfenic Acid and this Sulfenic Acid turns into syn-Propanethial-S-oxide though the enzyme Lachrymatory Factor Synthase.
This syn-Propanethial-S-oxide is what everyone hates because this is the irritant that when combined with the moisture in your eyes gives you that pain and your body tells your tear ducts to try and wash it out.
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Even I want to know why onion makes us cry at the chopping time, at the cutting time our eyes burn and it irritate very much in the mid of the cooking.cyclohexanol
ReplyDeletebut why we cant't irrited when we do experiments in our chemistry lab with sulpher.
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