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Sucralose is a non-caloric sweetener about 600 times sweeter than sucrose. It is manufactured by chlorinating sugar, which substitutes three chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups to produce 1,6-dichloro-1,6-dioxy-β-D-fructo-furanosyl 4-chloro-4-deoxy-α-D-galactopyranoside. It is stable under heating so that, unlike aspartame, it can be used in baking.
Sucralose mixed with maltodextrin as a bulking agent is sold internationally by McNeil-PPC under the brand name Splenda, and until 2007, manufactured only in McIntosh, Alabama. It is used in products such as candy, breakfast bars and soft drinks. It was discovered in 1976 by scientists from Tate & Lyle Ltd., working with researchers at Queen Elizabeth College (which since 1985 has been part of King's College London).
It was approved for use in Canada (where it has sometimes been marketed as Splendar) in 1991, and approved by the FDA for US use in 1998 [1] (http://www.jnj.com/news/jnj_news/20020513_1546.htm). It received approval in the European Union in January 2004. It has also been approved for use in Brazil, China, Japan and in various Latin American, Asian, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern countries.
In the United States and Canada, yellow packets of sucralose are increasingly found in restaurants.
Pure sucralose is currently extremely difficult for the average consumer to purchase.
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