Artificial Sweetening Agents
The chemistry of zero-calorie sweetness: Aspartame, Sucralose, and Alitame.
Natural sweeteners, like sucrose (cane sugar), add massive caloric value to our diet and contribute to tooth decay. For people who need to control their calorie intake, and especially for diabetic patients, chemists have developed chemicals that stimulate the taste buds for sweetness but are completely metabolized without releasing calories, or are excreted unchanged. These are Artificial Sweetening Agents.
Figure 1: Alitame is by far the most potent, but Aspartame is the most commercially successful.
The Big 4 Artificial Sweeteners
You must memorize the specific properties, relative sweetness, and exam "traps" for the following four chemicals:
1. Aspartame
Sweetness: 100xIt is the most successful and widely used artificial sweetener in the world. Chemically, it is the methyl ester of a dipeptide formed from aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
Aspartame is unstable at cooking temperatures. Therefore, its use is strictly limited to cold foods, cold drinks, and soft drinks.
2. Saccharin
Sweetness: 550xDiscovered in 1879, it is the first popular artificial sweetening agent. Chemically, it is ortho-sulphobenzimide.
3. Sucralose
Sweetness: 600xSucralose is a trichloro derivative of sucrose. Because its chemical structure is incredibly similar to natural sugar, its appearance and taste are almost identical to cane sugar.
4. Alitame
Sweetness: 2000xAlitame is a high-potency sweetener, similar to aspartame but significantly more stable during cooking.
Because it is a staggering 2000 times sweeter than sugar, the control of sweetness of food is difficult while using it. Adding even a micro-milligram too much ruins the food.
Bonus: Food Preservatives
Food preservatives prevent the spoilage of food due to microbial growth (bacteria, yeast, molds). You are already familiar with natural preservatives like table salt, sugar, and vegetable oils.
The most important chemical preservative to memorize for exams is Sodium Benzoate ($C_6H_5COONa$). It is widely used in soft drinks and acidic foods. It is used in limited quantities because it is metabolized by the body. Salts of sorbic acid and propanoic acid are also used.
Mastery Check: Sweeteners
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