Aspartame

What is Aspartame?

What is aspartame? Aspartame is an organic, artificial, sweetener generally used in certain foods and beverages as a non-saccharide, sugar substitute. This molecule is especially found in diet soda drinks. The structure of the molecule is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. Aspartame is nearly 200 times sweeter than regular sucrose.

Some history

 Aspartame was originally discovered accidentally by a chemist named James M. Schlatter back in 1965. Schlatter was working for G.D. Searle & Company, a company focused on pharmaceuticals, when he was in the process of producing an anti-ulcer drug (ulcer is a form of disease). Aspartame was one of the candidates he had synthesized for this purpose. But, at some popint Schlatter licks his finger to turn a page of a book, not realizing his finger had been contaminated with aspartame, when he discovers the extremely sweet taste of it. From then, Searle begins safety tests necessary for the U.S. FDA approval. But between the years  up until 1975 the us FDA and other chemists disapproved the additive  due to some safety concerns realized by testing aspartame on mice ( brain damage etc...). However, by 1983 after multiple analyses and studies, FDA commissioner Hayes approved aspartame for use in dry goods, carbonated beverages and other baked goods. And, in 1996, FDA approved the use of aspartame in all food productions. 

The Structure

Fig. 1 : Aspartame
MOLECULAR FORMULA: C₁₄H₁₈N₂O₅
IUPAC: N-(L-α-Aspartyly)-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester

Generally, aspartame is synthesized by two monomers, Aspartic acid and Phenylalanine.

Aspartic Acid
(OH reacts)

Phenylalanine
(NH3 reacts/amine group)

Firstly, the two carboxylic groups of the Aspartic Acid (OH - C = O) are joined together to prevent any further reaction of the amino acid group (NH2) by protected it by the compound. The Phenylalanine then gets added to the Aspartic acid where the amine group (NH2) will break off the protecting 

The Uses

Considering that aspartame is nearly 200 times more sweet that regular sucrose, and that so little is required to obtain that sweet taste, it has become a regular trend to use this molecule in diet foods. When metabolized, aspartame produces almost 4 kilocalories of energy per gram, but as mentioned before this number becomes very negligible since very little is needed to obtain the sweetness of sucrose. When compared to sucrose (table sugar), aspartame produces a sweet taste that also lasts considerably longer, explaining why diet drinks sometimes taste much sweeter that their counterparts.

The Controversies:

As soon as Searle & Company began to push this new molecule forward into the food industry, main claims and health concerns pertaining to Aspartame began to flood in. This is exactly the reason why I decided to choose this particular molecule. Even today, many different sources, even some that are reputable, claim that aspartame causes health concerns such as brain tumor development, blindness, cancer etc... But what is even more interesting is the fact that aspartame is one of the most thoroughly studied ingredients in the food industry. Multiple sources, such as Wikipedia*, FDA*, and Beveragehealth.org*, and plenty of other state that aspartame has been tested to be safe by over 90 countries through hundreds of studies. The tendency appears to be that there are not that many governmental sources or widely known ones that warn of the moderate consumption of aspartame. FDA themselves claim that is most tested additive.

Bibliography

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 Phenylalanine and amides. Ed. About .com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2011. <http://chemistry.about.com/od/imagesclipartstructures/ig/Amino-Acid-Structures/Phenylalanine.htm>.

beverage health. Ed. Wiki Pedia. N.p., May. Web. 27 May 2011. <http://www.beveragehealth.org.au/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=ASP0017/ccms.r?PageId=10043>.

deception, sweet. Aspartame. Ed. Wiki Pedia. N.p., May. Web. 23 May 2011. <http://aspartame.mercola.com/>.

Kills, Aspartame. Aspartame. Ed. Wiki Pedia. N.p., May. Web. 25 May 2011. <http://www.aspartamekills.com/lydon.htm>.

Alpha, Wolfram. Aspartame. Ed. Database AI. N.p., May. Web. 25 May 2011. 
<http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=aspartame>.