Lab #2

Title:Food Test

Aim:

- To test for the presence of starch in food

- To test for the presence of lipids in foods

Introduction: Starch is a complex carbohydrate. It is a storage polysaccharide composed entirely

of glucose monomers. However, starch is a polysaccharide of alpha glucose monomers. A
branched form of starch, amylose, forms a helix. Animals that feed on plants, especially parts
rich in starch, can also access starch to support their own metabolism. When testing for starch
iodine is used to indicate this monomer.

Lipids are class of naturally-occurring organic compounds that you may know by their common
names: fats and oils. A key characteristic of this group of compounds is that they are not soluble
in water.A lipid is any biological molecule that is soluble in nonpolar solvents.Lipids include
fats, waxes, fat-soluble vitamins, sterols, and glycerides.Biological functions of lipids include
energy storage, cell membrane structural components, and signaling. To test for lipids ethanol is
used to indicate this fatty acid.

Materials:

Test tubes, Iodine solution, Ethanol, bread, mayonnaise, cheese, water, oil, margarine, plantain(
ripe and green), pipette, spatula, beakers, measuring cylinder, digital scale and brown rice.
Diagram:

Method :

1. 10 grams of each sample was place into petri dishes.

Each petri dish was labeled then 2-3 drops of iodine solution was added to each sample to
test for the presence of starch and colour change.

2. 20 drops of oil was combined with water and 2ml of ethanol in a test tube.

Each test tube was labeled.

10 g of each solid sample was measured and was grinded to pastebefor ethanol was added
in the test tubes.

It was allowed to settle for 2 minutes.

2ml of water was added directly to eacg test tube and mix.

Results were recorded.

 Observation Table

TEST FOR LIPIDS

LABELS FOOD SAMPLES OBSERVATION

TEST TUBE A Oil Oil did not mix with the

ethanol and water.

TEST TUBE B Cheese Cloudy precipitate, solid fat

coagulate at the bottom of test
tube.

TEST TUBE C Margarine Solution and butter did not

mix. It was immiscible (oil
layer at the top).

TEST TUBE D Mayonnaise Froughty precipitate

TEST FOR STARCH

PETRI DISH A Green plantain Blue black colour change

PETRI DISH B Ripe Plantain Blue black colour change was

slow

PETRI DISH C Bread Blue black colour change

PETRI DISH D Boiled rice Blue black colour change

PETRI DISH E Potato Dark green was seen initially

then a blue black colour
Discussion :

Polysaccharides are polymers of hundreds to thousands of monosaccharides joined by

glycosidiclinkages. These polymers function as an energy storage macromolecule that
ishydrolysed as needed. Starch is a polysaccharide specifically a complex carbohydrate found in
plants consisting of two polysaccharides, amylopectin and amylose. Plants store starch within
their plastids, including chloroplasts. These plants have the ability to store surplus glucose in
starch and withdraw it when needed for energy or carbon. Starch has a 1-4 linkage of alpha
glucose monomers which means that the condensation reaction link carbon atom1 to carbon
atom 4 on the next alpha glucose. Some polymers are built with alpha glucose(amylose) forming
helical structure while others built with beta glucose(amylopectin)form straight structures. In
this experiment five samples were tested for the presence of starch ie, green plantain, ripe
plantain, bread, boiled rice and potato. Iodine solution was used to indicate the presence of starch
in the solid foods. Iodine on its own (small non-polar molecule) is insoluble in water. Iodine
appears to be brown. When this reagent was added to these solid food samples, three of them
instantly showed a colour change into blue black, one of which was slow in the transition of
turning into blue black and the other had a dark greencolour that slowly turned into blue black.
The reason behind the variation of colour change was influenced by the molecular structure and
components of starch, iodine and the solid foods. The three samples that instantly turned into
blue black because molecular iodine (I2) is not easily soluble in water, which is why potassium
iodide is added. Together, they form polyiodide ions of the type In–, for example, I3–, I5–, or I7–.
The negatively charged iodide in these compounds acts as charge donor, the neutral iodine as a
charge acceptor. Electrons in such charge-transfer complexes are easy to excite to a higher
energy level by light. The light is absorbed in the process and its complementary color is
observed by the human eye.In the case of the aqueous solution of polyiodides, the absorptions of
the different species lead to an overall brownish color. Once amylose is added, it forms another
CT complex, here, the amylose acts as a charge donor and the polyiodide as an acceptor. This
complex absorbs light of a different wavelength than polyiodide, and the color turns blue black.
Petri dish B and Ehad a slower reaction rate because of the presence of ethylene in the ripe
plantain and potato. Ethylene is a ripening hormone in fruits. The dark green colour was seen at
first because iodine tends to cling to starch and not sugars. The higher the presence of starch the
deeper and darker the colour which is blue black while the lighter the colour the less starch
present and the more stain is present in the fruit. The riper the fruit the more starch is converted
into sugar.

Lipids are described as fats, oil or wax that dissolves in alcohol but not water. Lipids are a
heterogeneous group of organic compounds that are insoluble in water and soluble in non-polar
organic solvents.They naturally occur in most plants, animals, microorganisms and are used as
cell membrane components, energy storage molecules, insulation, and hormones.Lipids may be
either liquids or non-crystalline solids at room temperature.Lipids are known to be liquid or
solid. Solid triglycerols (Fats) have high proportions of saturated fatty acids.Liquid triglycerols
(Oils) have high proportions of unsaturated fatty acids.Triglycerols like any other esters react
with water to form their carboxylic acid and alcohol– a process known as hydrolysis. In this
experiment four food samples were used to test for lipids, oil, margarine, mayonnaise and
cheese. Ethanol was used to test for this fat. Ethanol is miscible in water due to the presence of
the hydroxyl (-OH) functional groups and the shortness of its chain (2C). The hydroxyl group
participates in hydrogen bonding with water. Test tube A contained water, oil and ethanol.
The hydrophobic interaction of the carbon in the short chain with water is not great and is
overcome by the hydrogen bonding.
Test tube B which contained cheese showed a cloudy precipitate with coagulated fat that rested
at the bottom if the test tube. Ethanol extracted the lipid from the crushed solid sample. As
ethanol is miscible with lipids no change was seen upon its addition to the solid and liquid
samples. Test tube C was seen to have had no lipids present. It did not mix. Test tube D showed
a froghty precipitate. The lipid spontaneously comes out of solution when water is added and is
dispersed as micelles (small droplets) throughout the solution of ethanol and water.( This
happens as hydrophobic portion of the lipid molecules project inwards and excludes the aqueous
environment; the hydrophilic portion (-COOH) group faces the aqueous environment). The
reaction of water with lipids was based on polarity of the molecules. Most lipids are non-polar,
that is, they do not have charged areas or they are slightly polar with few charged areas. This is
so because water molecules mix with hydrophilic compounds and water molecules do not mix
with hydrophobic compounds.
Conclusion : During the research process of this experiment the researcher came across new and
improved knowledge. The researcher is now able to pin point how molecular structures influence
bonds and colour changes. According to research and data collected, the researcher noticed that
the bonds and colour change was built on the reactions between iodine and the samples used to
test for starch and the ethanol reacting with the fatty samples. Plants make starch through
photosynthesis, if not exposed to sunlight there will be none present so when testing for starch
the colour will be yellow or brown in colour. The test for starch indicated the true colour of blue-
black.

Reference:

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-lipids-608210

http://brilliantbiologystudent.weebly.com/iodine-test-for-starch.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-lipids-608210

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https://www.thoughtco.com/fruit-ripening-and-ethylene-experiment-604270

https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=15383

https://microbenotes.com/lipids-properties-structure-classification-and-functions/