Cyclamate
Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener that was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois by graduate student Michael Sveda.Like many artificial sweeteners, the sweetness of cyclamates was discovered by accident. Michael Sveda was working in the lab on the synthesis of anti-fever medication. He put his cigarette down on the lab bench and when he put it back in his mouth he discovered the sweet taste of cyclamate. The patent for cyclamate was purchased by DuPont but later sold to Abbott Laboratories who undertook the necessary studies and submitted a New Drug Application in 1950. Abbott intended to use cyclamate to mask the bitterness of certain drugs such as antibiotics and pentobarbital. In the US in 1958 it was designated GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe). Cyclamate was marketed in tablet form for use by diabetics as an alternative tabletop sweetener.
Cyclamate is often used synergistically with other artificial sweeteners such as saccharin (such as 10 parts cyclamate to 1 part saccharin). Sodium and Calcium Cyclamate are about 30 to 50 times sweeter than sucrose (it depends on concentration since it is not a linear relationship), which is least of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. It is less expensive than most sweeteners, including sucrose, and is stable under heating. Cyclamate is the calcium or sodium salt of cyclamic acid (cyclohexanesulfamic acid) (calcium cyclohexylsulfamate and sodium cyclohexylsulfamate).
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of cyclamate in 1970 after lab tests indicated that large amounts of cyclamates caused bladder cancer in rats. The findings of these studies have been challenged and some companies are petitioning to have cyclamates reapproved. Cyclamate is still used as sweeteners in many other parts of the world and it is approved in over 55 countries.
