Hernandulcin

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Hernandulcin is an intensely sweet oil gained from the chiefly Mexican and South American Lippia dulcis plant.^[1]

[edit] History and Origin

In the 1570s, Spanish physician Francisco Hernandez^[2] described a remarkably sweet plant known to the Aztecs as Tzonpelic xihuitl, meaning "sweet herb". This reference, accompanied by an accurate description and illustration of the plant, led pharmacologists in 1985 to a previously unrecognised, intensely sweet chemical that can provide sweetness without tooth decay. A. Douglas Kinghorn, a graduate of the University of Illinois Medical Centre in Chicago took samples of the sweet compound from the leaves and flowers of the Lippia dulcis plant, in Guanajuato. The researchers noted the chemical structure of the colourless oil, and named it hernandulcin after Francisco Hernandez. By slightly modifying the compound, they identified the two chemical groups which caused the sweet taste - the carbonyl group, and the hydroxyl group.

[edit] Structure

By slightly modifying the compound, researchers have identified the two chemical groups which caused the sweet taste - the carbonyl group, and the hydroxyl group. The structure of hernandulcin is very simple, and after a panel of volunteers tasted hernandulcin, it was decided that it was 1,000 times sweeter than sugar. Hernandulcin also has a bitter aftertaste, and does not cause tooth decay, which would make it a good candidate for a mouthwash.

[edit] References