Steviol (SV)

Steviol is a diterpene first isolated from Stevia rebaudiana in 1931. Its chemical structure was not fully elucidated until 1960. Steviol is found in the form of glycosides including the sweet chemical compound stevioside. Steviol glycosides are responsible for the sweet taste of the leaves of the stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni). The diterpene known as steviol is the aglycone of stevia's sweet glycosides, which are constructed by replacing steviol's carboxyl hydrogen atom (at the bottom left of the figure) with glucose to form an ester, and replacing the hydroxyl hydrogen (at the top of the figure) with combinations of glucose and rhamnose to form an acetal. The two primary compounds, stevioside and rebaudioside A, use only glucose: Stevioside has two linked glucose molecules at the hydroxyl site, whereas rebaudioside A has three, with the middle glucose of the triplet connected to the central steviol structure.