Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with an umami taste that intensifies the meaty, savory flavor of food, as naturally occurring glutamate does in foods such as stews and meat soups.
Umami, or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats.
Glutamic acid is an α-amino acid that is used by almost all living beings in the biosynthesis of proteins. It is non-essential in humans, meaning that the body can synthesize it. It is also an excitatory neurotransmitter, in fact the most abundant one, in the vertebrate nervous system. It serves as the precursor for the synthesis of the inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in GABA-ergic neurons.
Disodium inosinate (E631) is the disodium salt of inosinic acid with the chemical formula C10H11N4Na2O8P. It is used as a food additive and often found in instant noodles, potato chips, and a variety of other snacks. Although it can be obtained from bacterial fermentation of sugars, it is often commercially prepared from animal products.
Kikunae Ikeda was a Japanese chemist and Tokyo Imperial University professor of Chemistry who, in 1908, uncovered the chemical basis of a taste he named umami. It is one of the five basic tastes along with sweet, bitter, sour and salty.
Disodium guanylate, also known as sodium 5'-guanylate and disodium 5'-guanylate, is a natural sodium salt of the flavor enhancing nucleotide guanosine monophosphate (GMP). Disodium guanylate is a food additive with the E number E627. It is commonly used in conjunction with glutamic acid.
Pyroglutamic acid is a ubiquitous but little studied natural amino acid derivative in which the free amino group of glutamic acid or glutamine cyclizes to form a lactam. The names of pyroglutamic acid conjugate base, anion, salts, and esters are pyroglutamate, 5-oxoprolinate, or pidolate.
Guanosine monophosphate (GMP), also known as 5′-guanidylic acid or guanylic acid, is a nucleotide that is used as a monomer in RNA. It is an ester of phosphoric acid with the nucleoside guanosine. GMP consists of the phosphate group, the pentose sugar ribose, and the nucleobase guanine; hence it is a ribonucleoside monophosphate. Guanosine monophosphate is commercially produced by microbial fermentation. It is known as E number reference E626.
Inosinic acid or inosine monophosphate (IMP) is a nucleotide. Widely used as a flavor enhancer, it is typically obtained from chicken byproducts or other meat industry waste. Inosinic acid is important in metabolism. It is the ribonucleotide of hypoxanthine and the first nucleotide formed during the synthesis of purine nucleotides. It can also be formed by the deamination of adenosine monophosphate by AMP deaminase. It can be hydrolysed to inosine.
Sodium oxalate, or disodium oxalate, is the sodium salt of oxalic acid with the formula Na2C2O4. It is a white, crystalline, odorless solid, that decomposes above 290 °C.
Monopotassium glutamate (MPG) is a compound with formula KC5H8NO4. It is a potassium acid salt of glutamic acid.
Calcium diglutamate, sometimes abbreviated CDG and also called calcium glutamate, is a compound with formula Ca(C5H8NO4)2. It is a calcium acid salt of glutamic acid. CDG is a flavor enhancer (E number E623)—it is the calcium analog of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Because the glutamate is the actual flavor-enhancer, CDG has the same flavor-enhancing properties as MSG but without the increased sodium content. As a soluble source of calcium ions, this chemical is also used as a first-aid treatment for exposure to hydrofluoric acid.
Disodium tetracarbonylferrate is the organoiron compound with the formula Na2[Fe(CO)4]. It is always used as a solvate, e.g., with tetrahydrofuran or dimethoxyethane,. which bind to the sodium cation. An oxygen-sensitive colourless solid, it is a reagent in organometallic and organic chemical research. The dioxane solvated sodium salt is known as Collman's reagent, in recognition of James P. Collman, an early popularizer of its use.
Disodium pyrophosphate or sodium acid pyrophosphate (SAPP) is an inorganic compound consisting of sodium cations and pyrophosphate anion. It is a white, water-soluble solid that serves as a buffering and chelating agent, with many applications in the food industry. When crystallized from water, it forms a hexahydrate, but it dehydrates above room temperature. Pyrophosphate is a polyvalent anion with a high affinity for polyvalent cations, e.g. Ca2+.
Disodium phosphate (DSP), or sodium hydrogen phosphate, or sodium phosphate dibasic, is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2HPO4. It is one of several sodium phosphates. The salt is known in anhydrous form as well as forms with 2, 7, 8, and 12 hydrates. All are water-soluble white powders; the anhydrous salt being hygroscopic.
Disodium 5'-ribonucleotides, E number E635, is a flavor enhancer which is synergistic with glutamates in creating the taste of umami. It is a mixture of disodium inosinate (IMP) and disodium guanylate (GMP) and is often used where a food already contains natural glutamates or added monosodium glutamate (MSG). It is primarily used in flavored noodles, snack foods, chips, crackers, sauces and fast foods. It is produced by combining the sodium salts of the natural compounds guanylic acid (E626) and inosinic acid (E630).
Glutamate flavoring is the generic name for flavor-enhancing compounds based on glutamic acid and its salts (glutamates). These compounds provide an umami (savory) taste to food.
Tien Chu Ve-Tsin Chemical Limited is a Chinese manufacturer of honey by-products, food chemicals and additives including monosodium glutamate or MSG.
Disodium hydrogen arsenate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2HAsO4.7H2O. The compound consists of a salt and seven molecules of water of crystallization although for simplicity the formula usually omits the water component. The other sodium arsenates are NaH2AsO4 and Na3AsO4, the latter being called sodium arsenate. Disodium hydrogen arsenate is highly toxic. The salt is the conjugate base of arsenic acid. It is a white, water-soluble solid.
Nitroxylic acid or hydronitrous acid is an unstable reduced oxonitrogen acid. It has formula H4N2O4 containing nitrogen in the +2 oxidation state. The corresponding anion called nitroxylate is N
2O4−
4 or NO2−
2.
verify (what is 
?)