Title: Alternative Sweeteners

Alitame 33
IV. SOLUBILITY
At the isoelectric pH, alitame is very soluble in water. Excellent solubility is also
found in other polar solvents, as is shown in Table 1. As expected from the
molecule’s polar structure, alitame is virtually insoluble in lipophilic solvents.
In aqueous solutions the solubility rapidly increases with temperature and as the
pH deviates from the isoelectric pH. This effect is shown in Table 2.
V. DECOMPOSITION PATHWAYS
The principal pathways for the reaction of alitame with water are relatively simple
compared with aspartame (Fig. 2). The major pathway involves hydrolysis of the
aspartylalanine dipeptide bond to give aspartic acid and alanyl-2,2,4,4-tetramethylthietane
amide (‘‘alanine amide’’). The α,β-aspartic rearrangement, common