The synthesis of ascorbic acid was achieved by Reichstein in 1933, followed by industrial production of ascorbic acid two years later by Roche. Today, vitamin C identical to that occurring in nature is produced on a very large industrial scale. One of the world’s leading ascorbic acid production centers is that of DSM Nutritional Products in Dalry, Scotland, UK.
The ultimate raw material for the production of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is corn or wheat. This is converted via starch to glucose by specialist companies, and then to sorbitol. We produce the pure final products from sorbitol in a series of biotechnical, chemical processing and purification steps.

Vitamin C crystal in polarized light