Investigation of the Effect of Heat on

Vitamin C

 Arunashish Datta

“To examine the effect of heat on the content of vitamin C and draw
the inferences from the observations”
Investigation of the Effect of Heat on
Vitamin C

A report on an investigatory project in chemistry in partial fulfillment of

A.I.S.S.C.E. – 2015.

Submitted by –

Name – Arunashish Datta

Class – XII

A.I.S.S.C.E. roll number – ______________

Under the supervision of Mrs. Susmita Panigrahi.

D.A.V. Model School,

I.I.T. Kharagpur.
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project entitled
“Investigation of the Effect of Heat on
Vitamin C” is a bonafide record of work
carried out by Arunashish Datta of class XII
roll number: _____________ under my
supervision.

_________________ ________________
Susmita Panigrahi M. P. Sharma
(Chemistry Teacher) (Principal)
_________________
External examiner
Date: ______________
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my teachers specially my chemistry teacher
Mrs. Susmita Panigrahi in guiding me and providing valuable
insight on the project. I would like to thank the school for
providing us with a great lab with all amenities required for
completion of the project. I would like to thank my friends who
helped me throughout the duration of the project in whichever
way they could. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for their
wonderful support. They offered me help and knowledge
whenever it was necessary and were integral in the successful
completion of the project.
 CONTENTS
Serial number Topic Page number

1. Cover page i

2. Declaration ii

3. Certificate iii

4. Acknowledgement iv

5. Contents v

6. Introduction 1

7. Required Materials 2

8. Theory 3

9. Procedure 4

10. Observations 5

11. Results 6

12. Precautions 7

13. Bibliography 8
 Introduction
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin of molar mass
176 g/mol. Vitamin C is just one of the essential nutrients for humans
but it is still very important. It prevents scurvy which is a direct effect of
Vitamin C deficiency.
This experiment was conducted to assess the effects of temperature
on vitamin C levels in tomatoes and in general other fruits and
vegetables. As people tend to store and prepare the fruit and
vegetables at different temperature, the amount of vitamin C that they
consume will vary depending on the effect the storage temperature
has had on the vitamin C source.
The experiment uses the fact that Ascorbic acid reacts with free
iodine in a 3:1 ratio. This free iodine is formed by mixing KIO3 with
acidified KI.
Because cooking food destroys vitamin C, extended exposure to high
temperatures will destroy ascorbic acid and the longer the duration the
less vitamin C that will survive. At lower temperatures, the vitamin C
should be destroyed to a degree proportionate to the temperature.
Vitamin C chemically decomposes under certain conditions, many of
which may occur during the cooking of food. Vitamin C concentrations
in various foods substances decrease with time in proportion to the
temperature they are stored at and cooking can reduce the vitamin C
content by around 60% partly due to increased enzymatic destruction
as it may be more significant at sub – boiling temperatures. Hence it is
always suggested that eat your fruits and vegetables FRESH.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
Instruments required
 Test tubes
 Measuring flask
 Pipette
 Burette
 500 ml Graduated cylinder
 Thermometer
 50 ml beakers

Chemicals required
 Tomato pulp
 Iodine solution
 Freshly prepared starch solution
 THEORY
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid, or simply ascorbate (the anion of ascorbic
acid), is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species.
Vitamin C refers to a number of vitamins that have vitamin C activity in
animals, including ascorbic acid and its salts, and some oxidized forms of the
molecule like dehydroascorbic acid. Ascorbate and ascorbic acid are both
naturally present in the body when either of these is introduced into cells,
since the forms interconvert according to pH.

Vitamin C chemically decomposes under certain conditions, many of which

may occur during the cooking of food. To verify that cooking and heating
reduces the vitamin c content the process given below is followed.

The redox titration method was used in this research for the determination
of vitamin C (C6H8O6) in the vegetable samples, potassium iodate (KIO3) was
added to a vegetable solution that contains strong acid and potassium
iodide (KI). Potassium iodate reacts with potassium iodide, liberating
molecular iodine (I2):

KIO3 + 5KI + 6H+ → 3I2 + 6K+ + 3H2O ……….. [1]

The iodine (I2) produced in equation [1] oxidizes the vitamin C to form
dehydroascorbic acid (C6H6O6) and iodide ion (I-) equation [2].

C6H8O6 + I2 → C6H6O6 + 2I- + 2H+ .………. [2]

Hence as soon as the blue black color of Iodine solution is formed in the
sample the titration process is stopped and amount of iodine solution
required is noted. The more the amount of iodine solution required the
more vitamin c content in the given sample.
 PROCEDURE
The Vitamin C in the tomatoes is the titrant, and iodine is the titrating
solution.

 A tomato solution is made by blending store-bought red tomatoes with

200mL of distilled water.
 The solution is filtered to remove the seeds. A 10mL sample is
removed and set aside as the sample whose reading is to be taken at
room temperature.
 The remaining tomato solution is heated on a gas stove, and three
10mL samples are taken at three different temperatures, 50ºC, 75ºC,
and 98ºC (independent variable).
 The samples are cooled to a standard temperature of 35ºC.
 Starch solution is prepared by mixing 0.50gm of soluble starch to hot
water.
 Ten drops of the starch solution are added to each of the four samples.
 The burette is now rinsed with small amount of iodine solution and
then it is filled. The initial volume is recorded.
 We then titrate the solution with the tomato solution until the end point
(first sign of blue black color that persists after about 20 seconds of
swirling the solution) is reached.
 The final volume is recorded and the total number of drops of iodine
required is also noted as it will give a better view of the amount of
iodine solution needed.
 The results are compared after the above steps are repeated at least two
times.
 OBSERVATIONS
Temperature Initial Final Total Number
ºC reading reading volume of drops
(ml) (ml) (ml)

35(room temp.) 48 50 2 41
50 43.4 45.2 1.8 37
75 45.2 46.7 1.5 32
100 46.7 47.8 1.1 26

Temperature Initial Final Total Number

ºC reading reading volume of drops
(ml) (ml) (ml)

35(room temp.) 30 31.8 1.8 38

50 31.7 33.1 1.4 30
75 33.3 34.3 1 25
100 34.3 35.0 0.7 22
 RESULT
Both the tables give us similar trends in which the amount of iodine
solution required to get a blue black colour of the tomato solution
keeps decreasing as we heat the sample more strongly.
Hence the observations show that the vitamin c content decreases on
heating.

The downward slope of graph shows that the number of drops

decreases with increase in temperature.
 PRECAUTIONS
 The instruments used must be handled very carefully.
 The tomato solution must be well filtered before
using in titration.
 Care should be taken while heating the samples.
 The samples must be heated accurately up till the
necessary temperature.
 Same amount of starch solution must be added to all
the samples.
 The samples must be allowed to cool before iodine
solution is added and titration is begun.
 The readings must be carefully taken and noted
down.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Wikipedia
 www.icbse.com
 Britannica Encyclopedia
 N.C.E.R.T. Chemistry book
 Solomon and Fryhle Organic Chemistry