Sucronic acid

Oxidation of Sucrose. Sucrose can be oxidized by HNO, KMnO, and peroxide. Under selected conditions using oxygen with palladium or platinum, the 6- or 6 -hydroxyls can be oxidized to form sucronic acid derivatives (29). 

All these analytical results are in agreement with the experimental number of electrons involved during prolonged electrolyses of sucrose, which were found to be very close to 4. This confirms that the oxidation of one primary alcohol group leads to one carboxylic acid group (which needs four electrons per alcohol group), either the l mono sucronic acid (l MSA) with a selectivity close to 80% or to the 6-mono sucronic acid (6-MSA) (with a selectivity close to 10%) on a UPD-Pb/Pt electrode73 74 ... 

Much of the research on sweeteners involves probing the structure of sweetness receptor sites. One model proposed for a sweetness receptor incorporates eight binding interactions that involve hydrogen bonding as well as van der Waals forces. Sucronic acid is a synthetic compound designed on the basis of this model. Sucronic acid is reported to be 200,000 times as sweet as sucrose. 

---