History, Safety, and Dental Properties of Xylitol

Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol, a natural carbohydrate which occurs freely in certain plant parts (for example, in fruits, and also in products made of them) and in the metabolism of humans (1). Xylitol has been known to organic chemistry at least from the 1890's. German and French researchers were obviously the first ones who made xylitol chemically more than 100 years ago. This reaction was accomplished by means of sodium amalgam reduction of D-xylose (wood sugar). Owing to the obvious impurity of the then raw material, the first xylitol preparation was a syrupy mixture also containing small amounts of sugar alcohols other than xylitol. The definitive characterization and purification of xylitol to polarographic purity was accomplished already in the 1930's. The first successful crystallization of xylitol, after reduction of purified D-xylose, took place during the Second World War. This product was not, however, a stable form of xylitol. A stable, crystalline form was obtained slightly thereafter.