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| Trade names | Redoxon |
Redoxon is the brand name of the first artificially synthesizedascorbic acid (vitamin C).[1][failed verification] Redoxon was first marketed to the general public byRoche in 1934, making it the first mass-manufactured synthetic vitamin in history.[2][failed verification] The brand is now owned by German pharmaceutical companyBayer and is sold in many countries.[quantify]
The product was developed by a team headed by chemistTadeusz Reichstein, who discovered a method of synthesizing 30-40 grams of vitamin C from 100 grams ofglucose. This used an intermediate step of creatingsorbose using a bacterial fermentation method discovered by a French researcher,Gabriel Bertrand. In this method,fruit flies were attracted to a mixture of wine, vinegar, yeast bouillon, andsorbitol, a substance easily chemically prepared from glucose. Flies that fed upon sorbitol as a major food substrate excreted bacteria that were able to synthesize sorbose from sorbitol. The bacteria species was isolated, cultured and used in a fermentation process to make sorbose. From sorbose, chemical reactions were used to complete the synthesis of ascorbic acid.[3]
Despite concern about starting with a wild strain of bacteria for fermentation production of sorbose, the process was superior in cost and yield to a rival method byAlbert Szent-Györgyi that isolated vitamin C fromcapsicum (peppers). After the sale of theReichstein process patent to Hoffmann-La Roche, this process became the basis of the corporation's large-scale production of vitamin C.[3]
The present-day Redoxon tablets are compounded from ascorbic acid andsodium bicarbonate. When these are added to water, they react to producesodium ascorbate, water andcarbon dioxide, thus producing aneffervescence.[4] Some versions of Redoxon contain additional nutrients.
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