SYNTHETIC CARBOHYDRATES FROM FORMALDEHYDE

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Abstract
Chemical food synthesis research is currently in progress as part of the US-USSR Research Collaboration in Catalysis for closed loop production of glycerol as a source of carbohydrates in sustained space flight and for direct synthesis of carbohydrates. Experimental results are presented which show the feasibility of producing not only glycerol but also potentially edible sugars from formaldehyde by means of the autocatalytic formose condensation reaction. The speculative possibility of large scale food refineries producing edible carbohydrates and purifying them by chromatographic methods is considered, as well as economically growing single cell protein, using formose sugars as substrate. If protein derived from synthetically produced carbohydrate can eventually be used for animal feed, farmland can be released for human foods.