Sodium saccharin
Sodium saccharin, or artificial sugar, is a white crystal that is about 550 times sweeter than sucrose and 300 times sweeter than sugar. The appearance of sodium saccharin is in the form of white and odorless crystals and is mostly offered in the market in the form of powder or tablets.
Sodium saccharin is the world’s first synthetic sugar that was discovered accidently by a chemist during an experiment on a preservative. You should know that sodium saccharin is a non-nutritive sweetener and generally has no natural properties.
There are many functions for sodium saccharin, but what makes sodium saccharin unique and effective is it’s widespread use for diabetics or dieters. Many low-calorie, sugar-free foods such as jams, drinks, beverages and desserts are produced today, but if we want to know in more detail the uses of sodium saccharin, the following can be very appropriate :
Uses of sodium saccharin
Medications
In the pharmaceutical industry, sodium saccharin is used as a coating on drugs. Sweet coated tablets such as multivitamins, chewable tablets, and effervescent tablets contain amounts of sodium saccharin, which improves its taste.
In the pharmaceutical industry, sodium saccharin is also used to make toothpaste, and since it is a sweetener, more saccharin is used to make toothpaste for children. Sodium saccharin is also used in the production of mouthwash to reduce the smell and taste of fluoride.
Food
Because sodium saccharin is much more heat resistant than aspartame, it can be used in cooking without losing sweetness.
Other industries
Sodium saccharin is used to make adhesives that harden without oxygen, that makes it a very durable and suitable material for sealing hard parts. In the plating industry, sodium saccharin is also used for the final polishing and clarification of plated products. In the agricultural industry, sodium saccharin is also used to produce pesticides, plant toxins and herbicides.
Fortunately, American scientists, after much research, have concluded that the consumption of saccharin is completely harmless, although many experts believe that this sugar is very dangerous and harmful to health, but you should know that no cases of disease and poisoning have been reported for sodium saccharin. But the production method of saccharin is produced in three stages of sulfonation, amino acidification and oxidation.
In the first stage, toluene is sulfonated with chloral sulfonic acid and converted to ortho toluene chloral sulfonic acid, this reaction takes place at a very low temperature, then mix these materials with ammonia for half an hour and filter them.
In the second stage, or amino acidification, sulfonic acid and sodium hydroxide are dissolved in water, and potassium permanganate is added slowly, the temperature of the solution is kept at 40 ° C. Finally, we add some sodium bisulfite to the final solution to discolor and decolorize the material, and in the final step, the final material must be slightly acidified by adding hydrochloric acid and then filtered to remove impurities and pure sodium saccharin is obtained and used.
Finally, sodium saccharin is currently the lowest calorie and least harmful industrial sweetener. It is used in the production of soft drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, diet foods suitable for diabetics, desserts, cakes and sweets,
that is very affordable and convenient. Few industrial materials can be found that can be used in addition to food industries in other industries such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals and plating, which fortunately sodium saccharin is the most readily available material that can be used in various industries.