ERYTHRITOL is an alcohol, allied to the carbohydrates (q.v.), and having four alcoholic (hydroxyl groups)—a tetra hydric alcohol. It is also known by many synonyms; e.g., butan esterol, erythrite, erythrol, erythromannite, erythroglucin and phycite. Its formula is Erythritol crystallizes from water in large lustrous quadratic prisms having a sweet taste ; it melts at 126° C and boils at C.
In chemical constitution, erythritol is analogous with tartaric acid and like this acid exists in a racemoid form, resolvable into dextro- and levo-rotatory modifications, and in a non-resolvable inactive form which is identical with the naturally occurring va riety found free in the alga Protococcus vulgaris and in combina tion with orsellinic acid in many lichens, especially in Roccella tinctoria and montagnei. Oxidation with dilute nitric acid fur nishes erythrose which probably consists of a mixture of an aldose and a ketose (see CARBOHYDRATES). Further oxidation gives rise to mesotartaric acid. The four stereoisomeric forms of erythritol have been synthesised from divinyl (Griner 1893).