Redoxon by Albert Szent-Györgyi that isolated vitamin C from capsicum (peppers). After the sale of the Reichstein process patent to Hoffmann-La Roche, this process became the basis of the corporation's large-scale production of vitamin C. The present-day Redoxon tablets are compounded from ascorbic acid and sodium bicarbonate. When these are added to water, they react to produce sodium ascorbate, water and carbon dioxide, thus producing an effervescence. Some versions of Redoxon contain additional nutrients. Redoxon Redoxon was the brand name of the first artificially synthesized ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Redoxon was first marketed to the general public by Hoffman-La Roche in
Chemistry of ascorbic acid catalytically hydrogenated to sorbitol, which is then oxidized by the microorganism "Acetobacter suboxydans" to sorbose. Only one of the six hydroxy groups is oxidized by this enzymatic reaction. From this point, two routes are available. Treatment of the product with acetone in the presence of an acid catalyst converts four of the remaining hydroxyl groups to acetals. The unprotected hydroxyl group is oxidized to the carboxylic acid by reaction with the catalytic oxidant TEMPO (regenerated by sodium hypochlorite — bleaching solution). Historically, industrial preparation via the Reichstein process used potassium permanganate as the bleaching solution. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of this product