Sugar Substitutes & Sweeteners - Sorbitol

Sorbitol, also known as glucitol, is a sugar alcohol the body metabolises slowly. It is obtained by hydrogenation of glucose taking the aldehyde group to an additional hydroxyl group hence the name sugar alcohol.

Sorbitol is an artificial sweetener often used in diet foods (including diet drinks). It is also referred to as a nutritive sweetener as it provides calories or energy to the diet - 2.6 calories (11 kilojoules) per gram versus the 4 calories (17 kJ) of sugar and starch. Sorbitol also occurs naturally in many stone fruits.

Sorbitol is produced naturally by the body, yet sorbitol is poorly digested by the body. Too much sorbitol in cells can cause damage.

Diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy may be related to excess sorbitol in the cells of the eyes and nerves. The source of this sorbitol in diabetics is excess glucose, which goes through the polyol pathway. Ingesting large amounts of sorbitol can lead to some abdominal pain, gas, and mild to severe diarrhea. Sorbitol can also aggravate irritable bowel syndrome and fructose malabsorption.

Sorbitol is often used in modern cosmetics as a humectant and thickener. Some transparent gels can only be made with sorbitol as it has a refractive index sufficiently high for transparent formulations. It is also used as a humectant in some cigarettes.

Sorbitol is used as a cryoprotectant additive (mixed with sucrose and sodium polyphosphates) in the manufacture of surimi, a highly refined, uncooked fish paste most commonly produced from Alaska (or walleye) pollock (Theragra chalcogramma).

Sorbitol is identified as a potential key chemical intermediate from biomass resources. Complete reduction of sorbitol opens the way to alkanes such as hexane which can be used as a biofuel. Sorbitol itself provides much of the hydrogen required for the transformation.

19 C6O6H14 ? 13 C6H14 + 36 CO2 + 42 H2O

The above chemical reaction is exothermic and 1.5 mole of sorbitol generates 1 mole of hexane. When hydrogen is co-fed no carbon dioxide production takes place. The advantage of hexane as a biofuel over well established other biofuels such as ethanol is that hexane easily separates from water. In fact, the energy required to distill ethanol from water in the bio-ethanol production process eliminates much of the energy advantages.

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