Acesulfame Potassium

Acesulfame potassium, also called acesulfame K or Ace K and sold under trade names including Sunett and Sweet One, is a synthetic, calorie-free artificial sweetener carrying the European Union code E950. It is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose, as sweet as aspartame, roughly two-thirds as sweet as saccharin and one-third as sweet as sucralose, with a slightly bitter aftertaste at high concentrations like saccharin. It was discovered by accident in 1967 by German chemist Karl Clauss at Hoechst AG, after chemical powder spilled on his sweater and he noticed an intensely sweet taste on licking his finger; the World Health Organization assigned it its generic name in 1978, and it won United States approval for tabletop use in 1988. A white crystalline powder with the formula C4H4KNO4S, it remains stable under heat, unlike aspartame, which suits it to baking and long-shelf-life products, and it appears in diet drinks, protein shakes and chewable or liquid medications.