Artificial sweeteners

A Novel Synthesis of Magnesium Enriched Artificial Sweeteners (Published)

Mg deficiency is the leading cause of hypertension and obesity. The goal of this project was to formulate magnesium in sweeteners to suppress Mg deficiency in humans. The sweeteners selected for this purpose were Saccharin, Sorbitol & Xylitol, approved as GRAS by the FDA. This formulation was done by synthesizing Mg- saccharin, Mg-sorbitol & Mg-xylitol complexes. Mg (NO₃)₂.6H₂O was allowed to react with selected sweeteners under the pH = 9 with different molar solutions of NaOH. The percentage yield of Mg-saccharin was 76%, Mg- xylitol was 75% and Mg-sorbitol was 84%. The Proximate analysis such as ash content, moisture content, crude protein content, crude fiber content, and energy value was also calculated. Mg-saccharin complex gave a sharp peak at 1411cm^-1, for Mg- xylitol the peak value was 1625.214cm^-1 while Mg- sorbitol showed a broad peak at 3271cm^-1 during IR analysis. The resulting compounds were further characterized by AAS and HPLC analysis.

Keywords: Artificial sweeteners, Magnesium, magnesium nitrate, sugar complexes.