“DETERMINATION OF CAFFEINE IN TEA

SAMPLES”
 CERTIFICATE

This  is  hereby  to   certify   that   the   original  and genuine investigation
work has been carried out to investigate   about   the   subject   matter
and   the related data collection and  investigation  has  been completed
solely,  sincerely  and   satisfactorily   by ………………………
reading in CLASS  XII(SCIENCE), at Udaipur English Medium H.S. School,
regarding his    project    titled “ DETERMINATION OF CAFFEINE IN TEA
SAMPLES”

Viva voce held on :

ROLL No :

Signature of the Guide :

Signature of the Internal Examiner :

Signature of the External Examiner :

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
At the outset, I express our gratitude to the Almighty
Lord for the divine guidance and wisdom showered on
me to undertake this project.

I am immensely grateful to my beloved Principal for her

involvement in this project by providing useful inputs and
timely suggestions.

I am also thankful to my Chemistry teacher for her

guidance and help to make this project a success.

My Parents also played a key role in shaping up this

project nicely and I convey my special thanks to them as
well.

CONTENT
 Aim and objectives of the project

 Introduction

 Theory

 Requirements

 Procedure

 Precautions

 Observations

 Calculations

 Results

 Conclusion

 Bibliography
AIM and OBJECTIVES :
The main objectives of our project is to
determine the amount of caffeine in tea samples.

Introduction : Tea is a highly popular drink all over the world. A cup of tea is
often taken as a mind-freshener. This can be primarily attributed to the presence of
a stimulant called CAFFEINE in the tea. Besides this tea also contains various
polyphenolic compounds that act as flavorings agents. Relative contents of these
compounds result in different varieties available under different brand names .The
quality of tea leaves also greatly influence of the taste of the tea. Tea is popular
name of the tropical plant whose botanical name is ‘Camellia Thea’. India is the
largest producer of good quality tea and it is mainly grown in slope of hills of
Assam, West Bengal and Nigiri Hills. A cup of Indian tea contains 80mg of
caffeine which is the indispensable content of tea.
Caffeine is a nitrogenous organic compound of alkaloid group.These groups of
substances have a marked physiological effect
on the human body when taken in considerable amount. It is widely used as a
stimulant of the central nervous system and also has hypotonic and sleep inducing
effect. Pure caffeine has the general formula C 8H10N402. IUPAC name of this
substance is 1, 3, 7-trimethyl xanthamide. It occurs as a white powder that melts at
around 2380C. It is fairly soluble in hot water and on cooling the solution gives
crystals made up of caffeine monohydrate. In this case the compound is less
soluble in organic solvents than in hot water. It is odorless but even a small amount
have a very bitter taste. Caffeine is the main flavoring agent in the tea leaves. It is
obtained from the decaffeination of tea dust and also from coffee. It exerts a
simulative effect on the cerebral cortex but later has a depressant and narcotic
action. It is also useful in cardiac dropsy. An abnormal sate arising from caffeine is
called caffeinism. The main symptoms are nervousness, Insomnia and
Tachycardia. It is used in medicines in the form of chlorides and nitrates. In this
project we will do a careful study of different brands of tea and will extract and
carefully analyze their caffeine content. The result would thus tell the exact content
of caffeine present in different samples.
 Theory
The most important methylated alkaloid that occurs naturally is caffeine. Its
molecular formula is CsH10N4O2C8H10N4O2. Its IUPAC name is 1,3,7-
trimethylxanthene and common name is 1-methylated thiobromine.

Purely it is white, crystalline solid in the form of needles. Its melting point is
1230c. It is the main active principle component of tea leaves. It is present in
tea leaves up to 3% and can be extracted by first boiling the tea leaves with
water which dissolves many glycoside compounds in addition to caffeine.
The clear solution is then treated with lead acetate to precipitate the
glycoside compounds in the form of lead complex. The clear filtrate is then
extracted with extracts caffeine because it is more soluble in it then water.
 Requirements

 APPARATUS REQUIRED

1. Round bottom flask.

2. Bunsen burner
3. Match stick.
4. Beakers (250ml and 75 ml)
5. China Dish
6. Beaker
7. Burette
8. Burette stand
9. Pipette
10. Conical flask
11. Measuring flask
12. Separating funnel
13. Filter paper
14. Weight box and Analytical balance

 CHEMICALS REQUIRED
1. Basic lead nitrate
2. Lead oxide
3. Chloroform
4. Distilled water
5. Dilute mineral acid
6. Sodium Hydroxide
7. Phenolphthalein indicator

Tea Samples
Pictures
 Procedure

1) First of all, in a beaker 50 grams of tea leaves were taken as sample and
150 ml of water was added to it.
2) Then the beaker was heated up to extreme boiling.
3) The solution was filtered and lead acetate was added to the filtrate.
4) We kept on adding lead acetate till no more precipitate has been
formed.
5) Again solution was filtered.
6) The filtrate so obtained was heated until it had become 50 ml.
7) Then the solution left was allowed to cool.
8) After that, 20 ml of chloroform was added to it.
9) Soon after, two layers appeared in the separating funnel.
10) We separated the lower layer.
11) The solution then exposed to atmosphere in order to allow chloroform
to get evaporated.
12) The residue left behind was caffeine.
13) Then we weighted it and record the observations. Similar procedure
was performed with different samples of tealeaves and quantity of
caffeine was observed in them.

Estimation of acid content present in tea leaves:

Procedure: 10 gm of each of tea leaves are mixed in the beakers each containing
of 200 ml of water. The contents of the beaker are then heated constantly for
about 30 minutes and the extract is filtered out. 5 ml of tea extract is taken in a
conical flask and added to 20 ml of distilled water. It is now shaken to prepare a
homogenous mixture and titrated against N/50 NaOH solution. The same
procedure is carried for other types of tea leaves.
 Precautions and Expected Errors :

1. Chloroform should not be smelt directly for a long time as it itself is toxic.
2. The measurement of weight of tea leaves and all extract should be precise.
3. The measurement of weight of tea sample and all extract should be precise.
4. The water used should be distilled.
5. Apparatus should be clean and dry.
6. No water should be added to any extract in between the experiment as it may
get errors in calculation.
7. No prolonged heating should be done as water may evaporate in large quantity
along with same volatile solutes.

OBSERVATION
 50 gm of each sample was taken. The contents of caffeine of the
samples were noted and their presence in terms of percentage was
calculated.
Table: 1 Table showing the amount of Caffeine(g) in different Tea
brands :

RED LEVEL TAJ TEA TATA TEA LIPTON

TEA (g) (g) (g) STRONG
(g)

Weight of 50.61 g 51.62 g 50.61 g 50. 61 g

China Dish

Weight of 51.16 g 52.22 g 51.06 g 51.14 g

China Dish
with
precipitate

Amount of 0.55 g 0.60 g 0.45 g 0.53 g

Caffeine
Table: 2 Table showing the amount of Caffeine(g) and it’s
percentage composition in different Tea brands :

NAME OF CAFFEINE PERCENTAG TASTE

THE TEA CONTENT (g) E
COMPOSITIO
N
RED LABEL 0.55 g 1.1 % MILD
TEA
TAJ TEA 0.60 g 1.2 %
TATA TEA 0.45 g 0.9 %
LIPTON TEA 0.53 g 1.06 %

Table 3 : Standardization of NaOH

SL No Tea Leaves Initial Final Volume of

Burette Burette NaOH (ml)
 Reading Reading
(ml) (ml)
1 Red Level 0 ml 3.1 ml 3.1 ml
Tea
2 Taj Tea 0 ml 4.2 ml 4.2 ml
3 Tata Tea 0 ml 4.7 ml 4.7 ml
4 Lipton Tea 0 ml 3.8 ml 3.8 ml

Calculation :
Finding out the Normality
V1N1 = V2N2
N1 = 0.02,
V1=Volume of NaOH
V2 = Volume of tea extract used 5ml
Red Label Tea
V1N1 = V2N2
Volume of NaOH (V1) = 3.1 ml
Volume of NaOH(N1) = 0.02N
Volume of tea extract(V2)= 5ml
Volume of tea extract(N2)= ?
N1V1=N2V2

N 1V 1
Or, 𝑁2 = V 2

3.1 x 0.02
Or, 𝑁2 = 5

Or, N2 =0.0124 (N)

∵ Normality of tea extract= 0.0124 (N)

Taj Tea
V1N1 = V2N2
Volume of NaOH (V1) = 4.2 ml
Volume of NaOH(N1) = 0.02N
Volume of tea extract(V2)= 5ml
Volume of tea extract(N2)= ?
N1V1=N2V2

N 1V 1
Or, 𝑁2 = V 2

4.2 x 0.02
Or, 𝑁2 = 5

Or, N2 =0.0168 (N)

∵ Normality of tea extract= 0.0168 (N)

Tata Tea
V1N1 = V2N2
Volume of NaOH (V1) = 4.7ml
Volume of NaOH(N1) = 0.02N
Volume of tea extract(V2)= 5ml
Volume of tea extract(N2)= ?
N1V1=N2V2

N 1V 1
Or, 𝑁2 = V 2

4.7 x 0.02
Or, 𝑁2 = 5

Or, N2 =0.0188 (N)

∵ Normality of tea extract= 0.0188 (N)

Lipton Tea
V1N1 = V2N2
Volume of NaOH (V1) = 3.8ml
Volume of NaOH(N1) = 0.02N
Volume of tea extract(V2)= 5ml
Volume of tea extract(N2)= ?
N1V1=N2V2

N 1V 1
Or, 𝑁2 = V 2

3.8 x 0.02
Or, 𝑁2 = 5

Or, N2 =0.0152 (N)

∵ Normality of tea extract= 0.0152 (N)

Results :

a) Percentage Composition of Caffeine :

1. Percentage Composition of Caffeine in Red Level Tea is 1.1 %
2. Percentage Composition of Caffeine in Taj Tea is 1.2 %
3. Percentage Composition of Caffeine in Tata Tea is 0.9 %
4. Percentage Composition of Caffeine in Lipton Tea is 1.06 %

b) Normality of tea extract :

1. Normality of tea extract of Red Level Tea is 0.0124(N)
2. Normality of tea extract of Taj Tea is 0.0168 (N)
3. Normality of tea extract of Tata Tea is 0.0188 (N)
4. Normality of tea extract of Lipton Tea is 0.0152 (N)

Conclusion :
1. The percentage composition of caffeine in different tea
brand is nearly equal and in Taj tea brand it was maximum and
in Tata tea brand it was minimum.
2. Normality of tea extract of different tea brand is nearly
equal and for Tata tea brand it was maximum and in for Red
level tea brand it was minimum.

Bibliography

 Pradeep’s Chemistry
 NCERT Chemistry
 Google
 Comprehensive Chemistry
1. Basic lead nitrate
2. Lead oxide
3. Chloroform
4. Distilled water
5. Dilute mineral acid