On the beneficial side, they might potentially act as indicators of the amount of wastewater present in a water source. The researchers took over water samples from 31 pools and hot tubs, as well as the tap water used to fill them, over a period of several months.
Acesulfame-K was found in every pool and tub sample. Furthermore, the concentrations of the potassium salt were far higher in these samples than in the tap water. Acesulfame-K, of course, is not the only organic compound that contaminates swimming pools and hot tubs.
Sweat, personal care products, and urine all contain organic compounds. The study, which was carried out by a PR agency on behalf of the American Chemistry Council, also found that four in ten Americans reported skipping the shower before swimming in a public swimming pool. An earlier study by another group reported that the average urine excretion per swimmer in pools is approximately 70 ml.
Urine, although normally sterile, contains nitrogenous organic compounds such as urea. These can react with chlorine or other chemicals used to disinfect pools and hot tubs, producing so-called disinfection by-products.
These have been shown to be potential health risks. A paper published in by a team of researchers in the United States reported that more than disinfection by-products had been identified in swimming pool and hot tub waters. The investigators used a variety of techniques to analyse 28 water samples taken from seven sites. They also found that the pool and hot tub waters were several times more mutagenic than tap waters.
As many of these by-products originate from urine, a urine marker would prove useful for the control of pool water quality. Professor Li and her colleagues suggest that acesulfame-K is a possible answer.
The compound does not degrade in water and is stable at high temperatures. The Canadian team have developed a rapid, high-throughput method to assess the sweetener in water. The method employs high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to determine the concentration of the compound in water samples. Now, I hope these findings have not put you off swimming in public swimming pools. Swimming, after all, is good healthy exercise. In chemical structure, acesulfame potassium is the potassium salt of 6-methyl-1,2,3- oxathiazine-4 3H -one 2,2-dioxide.
Acesulfame K has been approved for a variety of uses in more than 90 countries. It is often blended with sucralose and used to decrease the bitter aftertaste of aspartame.
A wide range of low-calorie foods and drinks contain acesulfame K, including table-top sweeteners, chewing gum, jam, dairy products, frozen desserts, drinks and baked goods.
Acesulfame K is not broken down when digested, nor is it stored in the body. After being consumed, it is quickly absorbed by the body and then rapidly excreted, unchanged. Approval Year. Approved Use Nonnutritive sweetener. Title Date PubMed Calculation of the intake of three intense sweeteners in young insulin-dependent diabetics.
Sample Use Guides. This result alone would have been of scientific interest, but the true importance of the new compound suggested itself only after Dr. Clauss used a moistened finger in trying to remove a couple of new powdery white spots from his sweater. He was surprised to find that that finger suddenly tasted sweet!
Hoechst scientists at once began to explore further this hitherto unknown class of compounds in a search for other especially sweet examples. Karl Clauss and Harald Jensen, in their first relevant publication — which did not appear until several years later — presented not only the accidentally encountered sweet compound 16 , but also a host of other promising substances, together with various synthetic approaches to this new class of materials [64]. A small selection of compounds drawn from the diligent synthetic efforts of these Hoechst chemists will serve to illustrate the influence of structure on the intensity of sweetness see Table 2.
In the case of 6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4 3H -one 2,2-dioxide, acute toxicity studies point out the role played by counter ions Na, K, Ca; entries in red.
The values suggest that, at least in extremely high doses, it is mainly the metal cation that determines overall toxicity. Here, the larger anion plays a much more limited role. Acute toxicity measurements also provided a first indication of the potential commercial value of these sweet-tasting materials. With regard to the question of which of the many sweet-tasting candidates seemed to have the best chance of commercial success, Clauss and Jensen observed, in [64]:.
In taste tests with a variety of preparations and juices, the purity of their sweet tastes also surpasses that of other derivatives. In addition, their high water solubility offers significant advantages with respect to utilization, since most synthetic sweeteners are in fact only barely satisfactory in this regard.
Also, from the standpoint of rate of hydrolysis, these salts meet the demands posed by practical experience. Even in very acidic soft drinks the compounds remain unchanged after months, and with no impairment of the purity of the flavor.
Nevertheless, these must still be regarded as partial results; we need to await complete toxicological data before passing final judgment over the toxicological suitability of such salts as sweeteners. Moreover, certain aspects of their metabolism remain to be clarified.
If the first step involves a ring-opening to give N -acetoacetylamidosulfuric acid, subsequent degradation would lead only to substances already produced naturally in the body. This is another reason why the salts of 6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4 3H -one 2,2-dioxide were selected for closer consideration: they are derivatives of the well-known acetoacetic acid.
The potassium salt 6 was commonly referred to, starting in , as "acesulfame-K".
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