the dihydrochalcones of this invention have a set chemical structure as shown in formula ( i ). they contain three hydroxyl groups which are placed at the 2 , 6 , and 3 &# 39 ; positions . at the 4 &# 39 ; position they contain a lower saturated alkoxy group selected from the group of methoxy , ethoxy , the propoxies , and the butoxies ; preferably the 4 &# 39 ; substituent is a methoxy or ethoxy , and most preferably , a methoxy . at the 4 position they contain a carboxyl group - substituted methoxy group wherein the carboxyl group is either present as a carboxylic acid group , cooh , or as a cation salt of a carboxylic acid . as cations in the salts may be employed any pharmacologically acceptable cation such as the alkali metal cations , alkaline earth cations , ammonium cations , and the pharmacologically acceptable 4th period transition metal cations such as zinc , copper and nickel cations . preferred among these cations are the calcium cations and the alkali metal cations , especially sodium , potassium and lithium cations . it is most preferred when the carboxyl group of the 4 &# 39 ; substituent is present either as the carboxylic acid group or as the sodium or potassium salt . thus in formula ( i ), m most preferably is h , na , or k . these dihydrochalcones may be produced by at least two routes . in one method , the corresponding 2 , 4 , 6 - trihydroxydihydrochalcone is alkylated with an alkyl haloacetate and then treated with base to yield a mixture of 2 , 4 , and 3 &# 39 ;-( carboxyl - substituted methoxy ) dihydrochalcones , which are then separated . in another method , hesperetin or an equivalent other 4 &# 39 ;- lower alkoxyl material is alkylated with an alkyl haloacetate and then opened and reduced to the desired dihydrochalcone . these two preparative schemes are demonstrated in the examples , where reaction condition ranges and the like are also set out . these dihydrochalcones find application as sweeteners . in this used they are admixed with edible substances such as foods , beverages , medicines , and the like , in amounts effective for imparting a desired degree of sweetness . the amount of dihydrochalcone employed can vary widely , just as the amount of natural sugar sweetener employed varies from person to person and food application to food application . as a general rule , the weight of dihydrochalcone added will be about 1 / 100th - 1 / 1000th the weight of sucrose required to yield the same sweetness . thus , additions of from about 0 . 0001 % up to about 0 . 05 % by weight ( basis edible substance ) may be usefully employed . the present materials offer the advantage that their solubility permits such addition to most food systems . the dihydrochalcones are added to the edible composition by mixing methods known in the art . the dihydrochalcones may be added as solids or as solutions . they may be used alone or as the primary sweetener in a composition , or they may be one of several sweeteners in the final composition ; sucrose , or another natural sweetener or another synthetic sweetener also being added . these dihydrochalcones , their preparation and their use are further described in the following examples . these are to illustrate the invention and are not to be construed as limitations on this invention , which is instead defined by the appended claims . this example describes the production of the dihydrochalcones of this invention via alkylation of corresponding 2 , 4 , 6 - trihydroxydihydrochalcones . a . 2 , 4 , 6 - tribenzyloxyacetophenone is obtained by the common procedure of reacting 2 , 4 , 6 - trihydroxyacetophenone with excess benzyl chloride and excess potassium carbonate in dimethylformamide and giving the reaction mixture an aqueous work up . 3 - benzyloxy - 4 - n - propoxybenzaldehyde is similarly prepared from 3 - hydroxy - 4 - n - propoxybenzyl alcohol , excess benzyl chloride and excess potassium carbonate . a warm solution of 2 . 19 g of the 2 , 4 , 6 - tribenzyloxyacetophenone and 1 . 35 g of the benzyloxy - 4 - n - propoxybenzaldehyde is prepared in 10 ml of absolute ethanol . 15 milliliters of warm aqueous 60 % potassium hydroxide is added all at once . the mixture is stirred and a yellow solid product is formed . 16 milliliters of absolute ethanol is added and the mixture is added to 300 ml of water and extracted three times with ethyl acetate . the extracts are dried and concentrated to yield 3 . 2 g of a solid , which is recrystallized to yield 2 . 6 g ( 75 % yield ) of 2 , 4 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- tetrabenzyloxy - 4 &# 39 ;- n - propoxychalcone . ## spc5 ## 1 . 38 grams of this material is dissolved in about 50 ml of ethyl acetate and 200 mg of 5 % palladium on charcoal is added . the reaction flask is flushed with hydrogen and then the mixture is stirred under hydrogen at room temperature for about 35 hours . the product is checked by thin layer chromatography and observed to contain essentially a single product . the reaction mixture is filtered and concentrated to yield 0 . 66 g of a colorless oil , which by nmr is determined to be 2 , 4 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- tetrahydroxy - 4 &# 39 ;- n - propoxy dihydrochalcone , ## spc6 ## b . the preparation of part a is substantially repeated with one change : instead of 3 - benzyloxy - 4 - n - propoxy benzaldehyde , 3 - benzyloxy - 4 - methoxybenzaldehyde ( prepared from 3 - hydroxy - 4 - methoxybenzyl alcohol ) is employed as starting material . the final product is 2 , 4 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- methoxy dihydrochalcone ## spc7 ## the reactions depicted in parts a and b have been run under very mild conditions . the reaction between the acetophenone and the benzaldehyde could be run at somewhat elevated temperatures , say from room temperature ( 20 ° c ) up to about 75 ° c , if desired . also , any strong base could be employed , such as sodium hydroxide , lithium hydroxide , or tetramethylammonium hydroxide . the hydrogenation may be carried out catalytically as shown , in the presence of a suitable transition metal or precious metal catalyst and molecular hydrogen at pressures from atmospheric up to as much as about 100 psig and temperatures of from about room temperature ( 20 ° c ) to about 125 ° c ; or it may be carried out by reaction with a hydrogen - carrying agent such as diimide . c . the product of part b is alkylated . a solution - suspension of 1 . 5 g of the product of part b and 1 . 4 g of anhydrous potassium carbonate is prepared in 12 . 5 ml of dimethylformamide . while stirring , 680 mg of ethylchloroacetate is added and rinsed in with 7 - 8 ml of dimethylformamide . the mixture is stirred at room temperature overnight and poured into about 100 ml of water . this mixture is saturated with sodium chloride and extracted with ethylacetate . the extracts are washed , dried , and concentrated to yield a mixture of components . this mixture is purified by preparative thin layer chromatography to yield three major alkylation products : 2 , 3 &# 39 ;- dihydroxy - 4 , 6 - dicarbethoxymethoxydihydrochalcone . the desired 2 , 6 - 3 &# 39 ;- trihydroxy - 4 - carbethoxymethoxy material unfortunately comprises only about one - fourth of the total of these three compounds . d . the three compounds of part c are then separately contacted with aqueous base . in a typical reaction , excess 5 % potassium hydroxide is added to the 2 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- trihydroxy compound and swirled and permitted to stand overnight to give a green solution of the potassium salt of the 2 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- trihydroxy material . the potassium salt solution is rendered acidic ( to ph 2 ) with hydrochloric acid , and a white precipitate forms . this precipitate is separated , washed , analyzed , and found to be essentially pure 2 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- trihydroxy - 4 - carboxymethoxy - 4 &# 39 ;- methoxydihydrochalcone ## spc8 ## cation salts such as the potassium , sodium , lithium , or ammonium salts are formed from this acid by titration of the acid with the appropriate base . e . aqueous solutions ( 0 . 009 % by weight ) of a variety of the products and intermediates of this examples are formed . they are tested by volunteers to determine their organoleptic properties , with the following results : ## spc9 ## as can be seen from the above taste data , the compounds of the present invention have desirable sweetener properties . a solution of 1 . 5 g of hesperetin ( sigma chemical co .) and 6 . 1 g of ethylchloroacetate in 20 ml of dimethylformamide is prepared . to this is added 690 mg of anhydrous k 2 co 3 . the mixture is flushed with argon and stirred for 17 hours at room temperature . the product of the reaction is added to about 200 ml of water , acidified to ph 2 with hydrochloric acid , and extracted with ethylacetate . the extracts are dried and concentrated . the concentrate is placed on a preparative thin layer chromatography plate and eluted with dichloromethane : methanol ( 95 : 5 ). a fraction is separated and determined to be hesperetin - 7 - carbethoxy methyl ether ## spc10 ## to a solution of 242 mg of hesperetin - 7 - carbethoxy methyl ether in 5 ml of 5 % potassium hydroxide is added 25 mg of 5 % palladium on charcoal . the resultant solution - suspension is flushed with hydrogen and stirred under a hydrogen atmosphere for 24 hours . it is then filtered through celite and acidfied with 10 % hcl . the resultant precipitate is recrystallized from benzene - methanol to give 198 mg of 2 , 6 , 3 &# 39 ;- trihydroxy - 4 - carboxymethoxy - 4 &# 39 ;- methoxydihydrochalcone as colorless needles . this product has the desirable sweetness properties set forth in example i . it is used to sweeten a variety of edible compositions , suitable sweetness resulting when : 0 . 09 % w of the dihydrochalcone is added to an otherwise sweetener - free soft drink base ; 0 . 05 % w of the product is added to a gelatin dessert base containing 1 / 2 its normal amount of sugar ; 0 . 008 % w of the product is added with 0 . 008 % of saccharin ( less than 1 / 2 the normal amount ) to a chewing gum composition ; and 0 . 008 % w of the product is added as the sole sweetener in a cough elixer . a pair of compounds chemically similar to the compounds of this invention , disclosed in hungarian patent application ci - 1196 , and having the following structure ## spc11 ## wherein r is h and na respectively , are prepared in four steps , starting with condensation ( 42 %) of commercially available 2 , 4 - dihydroxyacetophenone and isovanillin . the resultant chalcone is hydrogenated ( 40 %) to the dihydrochalcone , which is then selectively alkylated ( 41 %) with ethyl chloroacetate . hydrolysis ( 100 %) of this ethyl ester with aqueous base , followed by acidification , then gives the desired compound ( r = h ). titration with naoh gives the r = na compound . taste analysis of these compounds by a panel of investigators indicates the ( r = h ) material to have 76 times the sweetness of sucrose and the ( r = na ) material to have 81 times the sweetness of sucrose ( both on a weight basis ). panel members also indicate the presence of significant amounts of other tastes ( i . e ., bitter , salty ) in both materials .
a group of novel dihydrochalcone compounds represented by the formula ## spc1 ## wherein m is hydrogen or a pharmacologically acceptable cation and r is a lower saturated alkyl of from 1 to 4 carbon atoms , and their use as sweetening agents in food products are disclosed .