Aspartame in Commercial Sweeteners with Colorimetry

EMILY GROVE, TIANA STEWART

Seton Hill University, 1 Seton Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601

Abstract
The goals of this experiment included determining the concentration of aspartame in two types of
commercial sweeteners and also to master the Beer’s Law plot technique. These things were
accomplished by using a device called a colorimeter and a Cu 2+¿ ¿ biuret reagent. Our results showed
that in the Great Value brand of sweetener, there was 32.285 mg/g of aspartame in one packet; in
the Equal brand sweetener, there was 21.745 mg/g of aspartame in one packet.

Introduction solution was then transferred to the

The objective of this experiment is to use a
colorimeter to find the concentration of
aspartame in two different brands of
commercial sweeteners – Equal and Great
Value. An additional objective is to learn and
apply Beer’s Law (A = εbc) by measuring
average absorbances of different standard
aspartame solutions, comparing them to the
unknown aspartame solutions, and thereby
determining concentrations of aspartame in
these unknown solutions.
Experimental
Before beginning the experiment, all necessary
equipment was placed on the lab bench. Using
gloved hands, a “blank” reference sample was
created by adding 2.0 mL of biuret solution to
a 10.0 mL volumetric flask, transferred by a 2
mL pipet and a pipet pump. The solution was
then diluted to volume with distilled water and
transferred to a cuvette. The light, transparent
blue, excess solution was then placed into a
labeled test tube, and five other test tubes
were labeled for the preparation of five
aspartame standard solutions. The five test
tubes were labeled in mg/g, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50,
2.00, and 2.50. The 2.0 mL biuret reagent was
transferred to the first 10 mL volumetric flask
and for the first 0.50 mL standard, 1.00 mL of
stock aspartame was added to the 10 mL
volumetric flask. The flask was then diluted to
volume with distilled water, covered with
parafilm, inverted several times to mix. The
appropriate test tube. The rest of the
standards were prepared in numerical order
using 2.00 mL, 3.00 mL, 4.00 mL, and 5.00 mL
of stock aspartame solution. After sitting for 15
minutes, the samples were, transferred by
pipette into cuvettes and absorbance was
measured three times for each sample using a
colorimeter. The same procedure took place
for the determination of aspartame
concentration in our artificial sweeteners, but
instead of the use of stock aspartame solution,
a solution of approximately 400 mg sweetener
powder with distilled water, and the
appropriate amount of biuret reagent was
used.
Results
The results of this experiment are successful.
We found that the amount of aspartame in the
Equal sweetener is 21.745 mg/g and the
amount of aspartame in the Great Value
sweetener is 32.265 mg/g by using the Beer’s
Law equation. The theoretical value for
aspartame in commercial sweeteners is about
37 mg/g, so the percent errors for the Equal
and Great Value brand are 41.23% and 12.74%,
respectively. Sources of error that possibly
contribute to our experiment includes the fact
that Beer’s Law is limited in the equation
A=𝜀bc where there is a deviation from linearity
if a concentration is greater than 0.01M. There
is also a point that large organic molecules of

1
 dyes have a high change in 𝜀 with small
changes in c. Finally, there are many
opportunities for pipetting errors with the use
of repeat pipettes and pipette bulbs.

Table 1. Mass of Sweetener Samples

Brand of Sweetener Mass (g)

Equal 0.4000 g
Great Value 0.4005 g

Table 2. Absorbance Readings for Commercial

Sweetener Solutions at 635 nm

Brand of Absorbance Absorbance Absorbance Absorbance

Sweetener 1 2 3 Average
Equal 0.138 0.140 0.137 0.138

Great Value 0.216 0.218 0.215 0.216

Graph 1. Beer’s Law Plot of absorbance readings for

standard aspartame solutions at 635 nm.

Conclusion
Overall, the experiment is very successful with
percent errors that are not exceedingly high
and a Beer’s Law plot containing a consistent
linear result. For future experimental work it is
highly recommended that we do another trial
waiting longer than 15 minutes to record any
differences in absorbance levels due to time. It
would also be beneficial to add another trial to
the experiment to rule out any outliers in our
plot.