HomeBad FoodAspartameHistory of xylitol

Aspartame, Birch, Food additives, Who's Who, Xylitol

History of xylitol

Hermann Emil Louis Fischer FRS FRSE FCS (1852 –1919) was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of drawing asymmetric carbon atoms. He also hypothesized lock and key mechanism of enzyme action. He never used his first given name, and was known throughout his life simply as Emil Fischer.

Emil Fischer, a German chemistry professor, and his assistant Rudolf Stahel isolated a new compound from beech wood chips in September 1890 and named it Xylit, the German word for xylitol. The following year, the French chemist M.G. Bertrand isolated xylitol syrup by processing wheat and oat straw.

Mäkinen KK (June 2000). “The rocky road of xylitol to its clinical application”. Journal of Dental Research. 79 (6): 1352–5. doi:10.1177/00220345000790060101. PMID 10890712. S2CID 31432699.

Sugar rationing during World War II led to an interest in sugar substitutes. Interest in xylitol and other polyols became intense, leading to their characterization and manufacturing methods.

Ur-Rehman, S.; Mushtaq, Z.; Zahoor, T.; Jamil, A.; Murtaza, M.A. (2015). “Xylitol: A review on bio-production, application, health benefits, and related safety issues”. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 55 (11): 1514–1528. doi:10.1080/10408398.2012.702288. PMID 24915309. S2CID 20359589.
Hicks, Jesse (Spring 2010). “The pursuit of sweet”. Science History. Science History Institute.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Xylitol.

Alcohols

E numbers 950–969

ASPARTAME, Birch, Excipients, Food additives, Sugar alcohols, Sugar substitutes, Veterinary toxicology, WWII, Xylitol

Leave a Reply Cancel reply