Sodium benzoate glycine "N"-acyltransferase into hippuric acid. In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene. When tested by the FDA, most beverages that contained both ascorbic acid and benzoate had benzene levels that were below those considered dangerous for consumption by the World Health Organization (5 ppb). Most of the beverages that tested higher have been reformulated and subsequently tested below the safety limit. Heat, light and shelf life can increase the rate at which benzene is formed. Research published in 2007 for the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggests that certain artificial colors,
Chemistry of ascorbic acid acid. American and Chinese researchers are competing to engineer a mutant that can carry out a one-pot fermentation directly from glucose to 2-KGA, bypassing both the need for a second fermentation and the need to reduce glucose to sorbitol. There exists a -ascorbic acid, which does not occur in nature but can be synthesized artificially. To be specific, -ascorbate is known to participate in many specific enzyme reactions that require the correct enantiomer (-ascorbate and not -ascorbate). -Ascorbic acid has a specific rotation of [α] = +23°. The traditional way to analyze the ascorbic acid content is the process of