How are saccharin and sweetener made?

1878 One evening in June, the Russian-American chemist Falbao was busy doing experiments in the laboratory and forgot to have dinner. It was not until late that he hurried home. Because he had no time to wash his hands, he picked up the bread and began to eat. At this moment, he suddenly felt a kind of unspeakable sweetness in his mouth. At that time, he just thought it might be a kind of sweet bread, then he rinsed his mouth with water and wiped his hands with a napkin. When the napkin touched his lips, he thought it was sweeter than bread. When he holds up the cup that his finger touches to drink, his lips touch the cup just as he touches the napkin. He was surprised and realized that his fingers had brought back a substance sweeter than sugar from the laboratory. He gave up dinner and went back to the lab. He was in a state of excitement, tasting the beaker and evaporating dish on the experimental table. Fortunately, these contents did not poison him, and he found a compound in these contents that tasted sweeter than sucrose. He continued to work for several months and determined the chemical composition and characteristics of this compound. 1879, he named this compound saccharin, which comes from the Greek word "sucrose". It is colorless crystal, 400~500 times sweeter than sucrose, and has a bitter aftertaste.

These findings of saccharin are based on the report of Falbao himself published in American Chemist (1886).

Today's report sounds a bit ridiculous, because as long as students who have done experiments in the chemistry laboratory know, chemicals are not allowed to be imported. But more than 30 years ago, it was not surprising for chemists. It is precisely because these ancestors engaged in research regardless of their own safety that they left us precious wealth.

Fubao 1873 received his bachelor's degree in Leipzig, Germany, and 1878 went to Johns Hopkins University for postdoctoral research. Together with Remsen, a professor of chemistry, he studied the oxidation of o-toluenesulfonamide (CH CH3C6H4SO2NH2) and found o-sulfonimide (C7H5NO3S). Generally, saccharin is its salt, called saccharin sodium.

Saccharin can't be digested and absorbed in human body, so it is not a nutrient. It's just a correction for diabetics to replace sugar.

19 At the end of the 20th century, during the term of the 26th President of the United States, theodore roosevelt (1858~ 19 19), Willie, an official in charge of food and medicine, was very opposed to eating saccharin. He suggested that it was a coal tar product, which had no edible value at all and was extremely harmful to health. But President theodore roosevelt accepted the doctor's advice. He said: whoever says saccharin is harmful is a fool. The President also organized some scientists to set up a review committee, and hired Remsen as the chairman of this committee to conduct a review and test on saccharin to prove that saccharin is safe.

Saccharin is indeed a product of coal tar, which is made of toluene, which is separated from coal tar.

1977, the United States found that feeding saccharin to rats would cause cancer. As a result, the US Food and Drug Administration announced a temporary ban on eating, but Congress was forced by public pressure to shelve the extension, and saccharin has been in use ever since.

Besides saccharin, there are some chemically synthesized sweeteners, such as sodium cyclamate (C6H 1 1NHSO3Na). This discovery is as accidental as the discovery of saccharin. 1937, Svida, a chemistry student at the University of Illinois, USA, studied the properties of a sulfonamide-like compound under the guidance of Professor Aldris. One day in June this year (1 1), when Svida was working in the laboratory, he put the burning cigarette on the experimental table, and when he picked it up again, he felt a sweet smell in his mouth. So he tried some compounds on the table and found that the compounds in a crystallization dish were sweet. This is sodium cyclamate.

Aldriz and Sverda sold patents to two American chemical companies, both of which were rejected because their sweetness was only 30 times that of sucrose. 1942 DuPont Company of the United States tested its properties and found that this compound is more stable than saccharin at high temperature, unlike saccharin, which has residual bitterness, and its sweetness is closer to sucrose. After approval, its calcium salt was put into production in the name of Su carrier and sold in the market for people who fasted on sodium salt.

1969, sodium cyclamate was banned because of bladder cancer caused by feeding experiments on mice. Later, a series of experimental results denied its carcinogenic effect. However, sodium cyclamate is still banned in the United States. This may be caused by most people's fear of coal tar products as edible substances.

There is also a sweetener, which was discovered by German chemist Berlin Le Blau. At that time, Behringer was studying the chemical reaction between chlorocyanide (ClCN) and various aromatic amines at the University of Berlin. In the process of studying the reaction between cyanuric chloride and p-ethoxyaniline (C2H5OC6H4NH2), he accidentally separated a new compound, p-ethoxyphenyl urea (C2H5OC6H4NHCONH2), when he treated the intermediate product with water. This compound has a sweet taste. He published an article in 1884 and reported the discovery of this new compound, which was patented several years later. In his report, he also described the preparation method of this new compound, which can be obtained by treating p-ethoxyaniline with phosgene and COCl2 _ 2 (carbonyl chloride).

Carbonyl chloride is a shiny needle-like crystal or powder, which is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose and has no bitter taste like saccharin. After the experiment of feeding animals, researchers have different opinions. Some people think that normal consumption is safe, while others prove that this compound is toxic. Most experts believe that its advantages as food or medicine outweigh its disadvantages. Therefore, it was put on the market at 1893 with the trade name of "Sweet". We call it Gansu, and some people call it Tianjing.

But today it is still banned by many countries, saying that it is a carcinogenic compound. But chemists were not discouraged because their new discoveries were buried. Until 1970s, chemists continued to look for their derivatives as sweeteners from natural compounds such as naringin, hesperidin and hesperidin. China chemists have also done some fruitful research in this field.