Dulcin, sweetness

Dulcin.—When the residue from the extraction with the ether-benzene mixture is sweet, whilst the presence of saccharin is excluded by the reactions indicated above, tests are made for other artificial sweetening materials, among them dulcin. 

Faus I (2000) Recent developments in the characterization and biotechnological production of sweet-tasting proteins. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 53 145-151 Fisher GL, Pfaffmann C, Brown E. (1965) Dulcin and saccharin taste in squirrel monkeys, rats, and men. Science 150 506... 

Hulcite—Melampyrite—Dulcose—Dulcin—exists in Melampy-rum nemorosum. It forms colorless, transparent prisms, fuses at 183° (359°.C F.), is odorless, faintly sweet, neutral in reaction, and optically inactive. It is subject to decompositions very similar to those to which mannite is subject, yielding dulcitan, C HuO . 

Synonyms Dulcine 4-Ethoxyphenylurea (p-Ethoxyphenyl) urea p-Phenetolcarbamide p-Phenetolecarbamide p-Phenetylurea Sucrol Urea, (p-ethoxyphenyl)-Empihcal C9H12N2O2 Formula H2NOCNHC6H4OC2H5 Properties Wh. needle cryst. or powd. taste approx. 200 times as sweet as sugar very sol. in ethyl acetate sol. in DMSO, 95% ethanol, acetone, ether si. sol. in water m.w. 180.21 m.p. 173-174 C b.p. dec. 

Dulcin (4-ethoxyphenylurea, 11-31), also known as sucrol or valzin, was an important sweetener of the early 20th century and had an advantage over saccharin, with which in the past it had been used in blends. It has a more pleasant sweet taste and does not possess a bitter after-taste. However, in 1954, animal testing revealed unspecified carcinogenic properties of dulcin, which led to a ban on its use. 

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