[higgmeister]

When we were about to go out into the aisle with the cart, I opened the door and realized she had heated the cereal. I lifted one of the cups off the tray and this gross, black, sticky goo was underneath each one. On heating, the Splenda had melted into a tarry black mystery substance.

If you have never read up on Splenda which is a brand name of sucralose, it is made from Sugar.

It is synthesized by the selective chlorination of sucrose in a multistep route that substitutes three specific hydroxyl groups with chlorine atoms.

Here is the Sucrose:

Here is the sucralose

They just break three of the Hydrogen-Oxygen bonds and substitute three chlorine atoms in their place.   Please remember that table salt is just NaCl (Sodium Cloride), so it's not like some strange chemical concoction.   Table salt has a chlorine atom and so does Splenda.

The stuff on the burner was sticky black goo like burned Sugar.

[ponygirl]

It certainly didn’t smell like burned sugar. It smelled like chemicals.

[nickcarraway]

So you’re telling me I can drink chlorine and it’s healthy?