Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Sweetness is a sensory property of sugars and artificial sweeteners.
The relative sweetness of different compounds is evaluated by comparing them to sucrose (table sugar), which is assigned a reference value of 0 (or 100).
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us look at the relative sweetness values of the listed sweeteners compared to sucrose:
B. Saccharin: This is an artificial, non-nutritive sweetener.
It is approximately 300 to 500 times sweeter than sucrose.
D. Dulcin: This is an artificial sweetener (an organic compound).
It is approximately 250 times sweeter than sucrose.
E. Fructose: This is the sweetest naturally occurring sugar.
It has a relative sweetness of approximately 2 to 7 times that of sucrose.
A. Sucrose: This is the reference disaccharide, with a relative sweetness of 0.
C. Glucose: This monosaccharide is less sweet than sucrose, with a relative sweetness of approximately 0.7 to 0.
Arraging these from highest to lowest sweetness gives:
Saccharin (B) $>$ Dulcin (D) > Fructose (E) > Sucrose (A) > Glucose (C).
This matches the sequence B, D, E, A, C.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The correct sequence of sweeteners from highest to lowest sweetness is B, D, E, A, C, corresponding to Option (B).