Hexanal is a common product arising from the oxidation of omega-6 fatty acids. Because aldehydic lipid oxidation products can react with food components, interactions between hexanal and sulfhydryl- and amine-containing compounds were determined. The polyamines, spermidine and spermine, and the sulfhydryl-containing compounds, glutathione and thioctic acid, decreased headspace hexanal concentrations < or =7.0%. Histidine was the only amino acid tested that was able to quench headspace hexanal. Histidine-containing dipeptides decreased headspace hexanal 3.0-8.5-fold more than histidine. Hexanal quenching by the hisitidine-containing dipeptides increased as the size of the aliphatic side group of the amino acid adjacent to histidine increased, with Leu-His having the greatest hexanal quenching activity. The ability of Leu-His to quench histidine increased with increasing pH. The ability of histidine-containing dipeptides to interact with hexanal suggests that it may be possible to design peptides to alter the concentration of saturated aldehydes in oxidizing lipids.