Project Report on SORBITOL FROM MAIZE STARCH [EIRI-1537]

Sorbitol, a polyol (sugar alcohol) is a bulk sweetener found in numerous food products. In addition to providing sweetness, it is an excellent humectant and texturizing agent. Sorbitol is about 60 percent as sweet as sucrose with one-third fewer calories. It has a smooth mouthfeel with a sweet, cool and pleasant taste. It is non-cariogenic and may be useful to people with diabetes. Sorbitol has been safely used in processed foods for almost half a century. It is also used in other products, such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. D-Soribitol, CH2OH(CHOH)4CH2OH (D-glucitol, L-gulitol), is a hexahydric  alcohol with a 6-carbon atom straight-chain that contains six hydroxyl gropups and has a molecular weight of 182.17. It exists as a white, odorless, crystalline solid. Because of a negative heat of solution, sorbitol has a cooling effect when tasted. The hexitol has about two-thirds the sweetness of sugar. Sorbitol was first isolated by the French chemist Joseph Boussingault in 1872 from the fresh juice of mountain ash berries. It has since been found in many natural products such as edible fruits (apples, plums, peaches, cherries etc.), berries of mountain ash, hawthorn and Sorbus domestica, tobacco, algae, and red seaweed. In spite of its wide occurrence, natural materials are not a good commercial source of sorbitol, and it is made synthetically. The content of sorbitol in grapes is insignificant and advantage is taken of this situation by using a sorbitol assay of grape wines as a means of detecting adulteration with other fruit wines or apple cider. A French chemist first discovered sorbitol in the berries of the mountain ash in 1872. It occurs naturally in a wide variety of fruits and berries. Today it is commercially produced by the hydrogenation of glucose and is available in both liquid and crystalline form.