Importance
This process was patented and sold to Hoffmann-La Roche in 1935. The first commercially sold vitamin C product was called Cebion from Merck.
Even today all industrial methods for the production of ascorbic acid are based on the Reichstein process. In modern methods however, sorbose is directly oxidized with a platinum catalyst (developed by Kurt Heyns (1908–2005) in 1942). This method avoids the use of protective groups. A side product with particular modification is 5-Keto-D-gluconic acid.
Novel methods involve genetically modified bacteria.
Read more about this topic: Reichstein Process
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