Sweetener compositions containing aspartame and aspartame derivative
AssigneeAjinomoto Co., Inc.
InventorsAkihiro Kishishita, Kazutaka Nagashima
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Abstract
A homogeneous sweetener composition containing aspartame (APM) and N-[N-(3,3-dimethylbutyl)-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine methyl ester having tasting properties similar to sucrose, can be efficiently produced in high yields and with a high purity by reductive alkylation of APM with an at most equimolar amount 3,3-dimethylbutylaldehyde followed by separating the reducing agent from the liquid reaction mixture, and separating of the precipitated crystals of the sweetener composition.
Claims13
A sweetener composition, comprising aspartame and N-[N-(3,3-dimethylbutyl)-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine methyl ester, wherein said sweetener composition is prepared by a process comprising:
- reductively alkylating aspartame with 3,3-dimethylbutylaldehyde in the presence of a catalyst in a reaction solution to form a sweetener composition;
- separating said catalyst from said reaction solution;
- crystallizing said sweetener composition;
- and
- isolating a precipitated sweetener composition,
- wherein said aspartame is reductively alkylated with said 3,3-dimethylbutylaldehyde so that said sweetener composition comprises said N-[N-(3,3-dimethylbutyl)-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine methyl ester and said aspartame in a weight ratio of 0.05 to 40 of said N-[N(3,3-dimethylbutyl)-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine methyl ester to 100 of said aspartame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.