"Made From Sugar, So It Tastes Like Sugar"

While trying to create a new insecticide in London, sucralose was discovered. It was accidently created while mixing sulfuryl chloride into a sugar solution. Once they realized the mixture was sweet, they experimented with hundreds of other chlorinated sugars before finding the perfect one. The chemical name for sucralose is "1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-beta-D-fructofuranosyl-4-chloro-4-deoxy-alpha-D-galactopyranoside."

According to Mercola's research, this is how Splenda claims sucralose is "Made From Sugar, So It Tastes Like Sugar."

Sucrose is tritylated with trityl chloride in the presence of dimethylformamide and 4-methylmorpholine, and the tritylated sucrose is then acetylated with acetic anhydride.

The resulting sucrose molecule, TRISPA (6,1',6'-tri-O-tritylpenta-O acetylsucrose) is chlorinated with hydrogen chlorine in the presence of toluene (toluene is produced in the process of making gasoline from crude oil).

The resulting 4-PAS (sucrose 2,3,4,3',4'-pentaacetate) is heated in the presence of methyl isobutyl ketone and acetic acid.

The resulting 6-PAS (sucrose 2,3,6,3',4'-pentaacetate) is chlorinated with thionyl chloride in the presence of toluene and benzyltriethlyammonium chloride.

The resulting TOSPA (sucralose pentaacetate) is treated with methanol (aka wood alcohol, paint remover) in the presence of sodium methoxide to produce sucralose.

Mmmmm.... sounds yummy, huh?