How Is Aspartame Manufactured | Explore in detail

Aspartame is used as a substitute for sugar in food and beverages. Its advantages are mainly reflected in its low calorie and applicability to diabetes patients. Each gram provides only about 4 calories, far lower than the 16 calories per gram of sugar. Are there other effects and how is aspartame manufactured? You will find the answers below.

What is Aspartame Used For?

The use of aspartame is determined by its sweetness and low-calorie content. As a non-nutritive sweetener, it only provides 4 calories per gram. However, due to its high sweetness, the actual calorie intake can be ignored.

Besides, it has a relatively small impact on blood sugar. Therefore, it is suitable for people who want to control their weight and reduce their calorie intake and for patients with diabetes.

It can also serve as a flavor enhancer for the taste and aroma of food. Currently, it has been used in over 100 countries and regions. Thousands of foods and beverages have added this substance, such as carbonated drinks, fruit juice, milk, ice cream, candies, chewing gum, soy sauce, coffee, tea, etc.

What are The Effects of Aspartame?

1.Enhance Sweetness

Its sweetness is stronger than sucrose. It can provide sweetness the same as sucrose only with minimal use.

2. Control Weight

It is a non-nutritive sweetener with extremely low calories, which can be used as a substitute for sucrose and other high-calorie sweeteners to help control weight.

3. Control Blood Sugar Levels

Because it can’t be absorbed by the body, it does not cause any increase in blood sugar levels. Therefore, it is suitable for people with diabetes or people who need to control blood sugar.

4. Protecting Teeth

Unlike sucrose, it will not be broken down by bacteria in the mouth to produce acidic substances. Therefore, it reduces the risk of tooth decay.

How is Aspartame Manufactured?

There are two methods for its production and extraction. One is chemical synthesis and the other is enzymatic reaction. The chemical synthesis method is the earliest and most used method. The enzyme reaction method is a new method developed in recent years. How is aspartame manufactured? Let’s find out in detail.

1.Chemical Synthesis Method

How is aspartame manufactured? The chemical synthesis method includes the following four steps.

-Step 1: Convert Aspartic Acid to Anhydride

Firstly, we need to protect the amino group of aspartic acid during the reaction process. Add acid, sodium hydride, or triethylamine to tetrahydrofuran, then add benzoyl chloride or benzoyl chloride, and react at 0℃ for 1 hour to complete the reaction.

After the above protection steps, the amino group of aspartic acid is protected, and then the formation of acid anhydride occurs. Aspartic acid reacts with anhydride reagents to form aspartic acid anhydride under appropriate conditions. Finally, we can obtain pure anhydride products through appropriate separation and purification steps.

-Step 2: Condensation with Phenylalanine Methyl Ester

The acid anhydride undergoes a productive condensation reaction with phenylalanine methyl ester to form aspartame during this process.

-Step 3: Isomer Generation and Separation

Due to the poor regional selectivity of this traditional method, two isomers are produced. We need to separate them through specific extraction methods. The key to this step is to utilize its solubility difference with other substances to separate it from other substances. Common extraction methods include solvent extraction, precipitation, chromatography, etc.

-Step 4: Refined Drying

After extraction, the aspartame solution needs to undergo a series of refining, drying, and other processes to obtain the final product. The purpose of this step is to further improve the purity of aspartame to meet the market requirements.

2.Enzyme Reaction Method

How is aspartame manufactured? The other method is the enzyme reaction method. Its advantages are strong specificity, high conversion rate, mild conditions, and few by-products.

Firstly, we need to use a special microbial strain. Secondly, phenylalanine and aspartic acid are converted into their corresponding methyl esters through the fermentation process. Thirdly, the two acid methyl esters can be directly synthesized into aspartame by a special enzyme.

This process does not require the addition of any external solvents or catalysts and can be carried out at room temperature and pressure.

Conclusion

How is aspartame manufactured? You can find two methods introduced in this article. The traditional chemical synthesis method requires a certain temperature, pressure, and catalyst. Besides, it may produce some by-products. On the other hand, the enzyme reaction method has more advantages, which have the characteristics of enantioselectivity, high substrate concentration, and continuous reaction which can improve the yield.