Sodium benzoate

Sprite’s ingredients are: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate

Not long ago, I did a post about how ingredients in coke can be potentially dangerous, today I decided to look further into the ingredient in fizzy drinks and I discovered Sodium Benzonate. 

After some research I found out that it isn’t only found in coke but in most soft drinks and I even found it in orange juice and vinegar, so today, I’m going to look deeper into this compound.

Sodium Benzonate is a type of salt that may occur naturally in some foods but is more likely to be chemically produced and added as a preservative to foods. It is widely used as a food preservative (E number E211) for acidic foods as it has an acidic taste itself, especially in foods such as salad dressings carbonated drinks, jams and fruit juices and pickles. This product is always used in very small amounts as too much of it will bring a bitter taste to the product. It is also used as a preservative in medicines and cosmetics.

It’s chemical formulae is NaC₆H₅CO₂; it is basically formed when reacting sodium hydroxide with benzoic acid. As the name indicates, sodium benzonate is an acid when found in an aqueous solution and it is bacteriostatic and fungistatic under acidic conditions. 

So now you know from where that acidic taste comes from is soft drinks. Statistics show though, that although 75% of humans can eventually detect the taste, most of us don’t notice it anymore as we are used to drinking soft drinks on a regular basis, but next time you drink a fizzy drink, try to distinguish the flavor.

Make Benzoic acid and Manganese Dioxide from Toluene

Sodium bicarbonate- baking soda

Ever wondered why when you try baking a cake it stays flat and without any volume instead of spongy and puffy like the ones you buy in a bakery? Perhaps you forgot one of the essential ingredients, sodium bicarbonate.

Sodium bicarbonate? What on earth is that, you may think. Sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda (Aaaa, you know what that is don’t you?) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO₃. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda. The natural mineral form is nahcolite. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs.

NaHCO₃ is mainly prepared by the Solvay process, which is the reaction of sodium chloride, ammonia, and carbon dioxide in water. 

CO₂ + 2 NaOH → Na₂CO₃ + H₂O

This compound is one of the compounds with a biggest range of uses. It isn’t only used in the food production, but it is widely used to treat numerous medical issues as it is a good neutralizer, which allows it to help with indigestion, high acid levels in the blood and it can be used against drug overdose. Sodium bicarbonate is also used in many tooth whiteners and even in some cleaning products.

So now you know what it is, but what difference does it make in baking? Baking soda is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture; this will give it that spongy texture.

So next time you bake a cake remember the baking soda and you’ll see the difference in the texture and taste.

Aluminium Chlorohydrate

So today I come to you yet again with another question: ever wondered what your deodorant does to stop you from sweating? Basically it stops bacteria from forming and in some cases even prevent the sweat glands from forming sweat. This is done by using antiperspirants. Depending on the type of product, antiperspirants usually contain salts to actually reduce the flow of sweat from the skin. These salts work by dissolving in sweat and leaving a thin coating of gel over the sweat glands. This coating reduces the amount of sweat on the skin for a number of hours after the antiperspirant is applied. The most common of these salts is aluminium chlorohydrate.

Al₂Cl(OH)₅ is one of the most common active ingredients in commercial antiperspirants and is also often used as a flocculant in water purification stations. It belongs to a specific group of aluminium slats and is commercially manufactured by reacting aluminium with hydrochloric acid.

Although it's the least irritating of the aluminum salts, there have still been concerns from some researchers calming that it can cause breast cancer and other damages as the compound is capable of passing through the blood-brain barrier. However many studies have strongly defended the safety of the product. 

videos

abaut organic chemistry

http://video.answers.com/learn-about-organic-chemistry-1-111430091

Sodium stearoyl lactylate

White soft Bimbo bread ingredients: enriched wheat flour, water, sugar, yeast, salt, soybean and/or canola oil, enrichment (calcium sulfate, vitamin E acetate, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3), Calcium propionate (preservative), calcium sulfate, datem, mono-and diglycerides, citric acid, soy lecithin, sodium stearoyl lactylate, wheat gluten, azodicarbonamide, ethoxylated mono-and diglycerides (http://www.bimbobread.com/Products/Soft-White/Default.aspx)

I love baking and experimenting in the kitchen but somehow, it doesn’t matter how hard I try, when I bake bread it never seems to get as fluffy, sweet and long lastingly fresh as the ones we buy. As this is so odd, because soposedly the bread we buy is “natural” and the manufacturers use the traditional ingredients to bake bread, I took a look at the ingredients of several different bread brands and this is one ingredient I found in every single one.

Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (sodium stearoyl lactylate or SSL) is a versatile, FDA approved food additive. It is one type of a commercially available lactylate. SSL is non-toxic, biodegradable, and typically manufactured using biorenewable feedstocks. Its molecular formula is C₂₄H₄₃NaO_6. It’s a white or cream-colored powder with a caramel odor and sweet taste.

This food additive, has several qualities desired by bakers: it makes the gluten in the bread stronger strengthening the dough and  increasing the volume of the loaf; it maintains the texture fresh as it stops the amylosestarch from going back to its crystalized form, expanding shell life; it acts as an emulsifier improving the capacity of water absorption as the surface tension between the water and the oils is reduced; and it makes the manufacturing of dough cheaper as lower quantities of fat have to be used as it disperses the fats in the bread, making it softer, and less sugar is needed as it already contains a sweet taste.

Qualities like being a fast and effective emulsifying agent and a foam stabilizer and fat and sugar replacer also make this product perfect for other uses in the food industry like icings and fillings, puddings, beverage mixes, cream liqueurs, sauces and even canned meats and pet food.

It truly is incredible how the food industry has foud compound wich are provben to be so helpful for their business, here I have found a picture to see the amazing effect of this additive, of the left a bread without SSL, on the right with it. Now you understand why our bread is so fluffy.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Sodium Laureth Sulfate is a detergent and surfactant (compounds that lower the surface tension of liquids) found in many personal care products. This product is not only one of the cheapest in the market, but it is very efficient too.

S.L.S. is a foaming agent used in many cosmetic products for their cleansing and emulsifying properties.

S.L.S. comes from coconut oil, which is then heated and manufactured.

This substance is found in most shampoos, soaps and any other products that need to disperse homogeneously like fragrance oils and body spray, as it acts like a dispersal agent. It is also used in toothpaste and other products like detergents.

It is a very used product even if its safety has been questioned for being cancer erecting and corrosive for the skin if not manufactured correctly.