Characteristics                           

  1. Aspartame, an artificial sweetener, is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose, or table sugar.

  2. The sweetness of aspartame lasts longer than sucrose, so it is often blended with other artificial sweeteners such as acesulfame potassium to produce an overall taste more like sugar.

  3. Aspartame may hydrolyze (break down) into its constituent amino acids under conditions of elevated temperature or high pH. This makes aspartame undesirable as a baking sweetener

  4. The stability when dissolved in water depends markedly on pH. At room temperature, it is most stable at pH 4.3

  5. However, because its breakdown products include phenylalanine, aspartame must be avoided by people with the genetic condition phenylketonuria (PKU).

Usage
Aspartame is being used in a wide variety of foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals in over 120 countries.