Sweetener, artificial, molecular structure

As the table shows, aspartame, the popular artificial sweetener in soft drinks, is 160 times sweeter than sucrose, common table sugar. The sweetening ability of aspartame comes from a molecular structure that creates an impact 160 times that of sucrose on your taste buds that detect the sweet taste. 

Taste and smell are well-known chemical senses however, the specific genes and proteins involved in some tastes have not yet been fully identified. SEE ALSO Artificial Sweeteners Molecular Structure Neurotransmitters. 

So the search goes on for a better artificial sweetener. One thing s for sure it all has to do with molecular structure. 

Acesulfame-K, cyclamate, and saccharin are noncaloric synthetic sweeteners [1-6] and, according to their molecular structure (Figure 24.1), are included in the group of sulfanil-amides/sulfamate artificial sweeteners [7-13]. 

Now, I feel I have dwelt too long on the subject of "umami , but the word "umami" in Japanese language sometimes means "sweetness". As to the sweeteners, it is no wonder that such a great deal of work has been done on new sweeteners of natural and artificial origin. Until now, such work has been a kind of hit and miss business. Therefore, the last half of the day was devoted to understanding some of the structural features of molecules that determine their taste properties. Based on the advanced stereo-chemical studies on a large number of sweet and bitter compounds by Dr. Ariyoshi, Dr. Belitz and Dr. Ney, our understanding of the molecular properties of certain taste compounds has advanced markedly. 

The shapes of food molecules are determined by their chemical structures. When a molecule enters a taste bud, it must have the correct shape for the nerve in each receptor cell to respond and send a message to the brain. The brain then interprets the message as a certain taste. When such molecules bind to sweet receptors, they are sensed as sweet. The greater the number of food molecules that fit a sweet receptor cell, the sweeter the food tastes. Sugars and artificial sweeteners are not the only sweet molecules. Some proteins found in fruits are also sweet molecules. Some common molecular shapes are illustrated in Table 8.5. 

---