TEST

FOR
PROTEINS
BIOCHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT

SUBMITTED BY:
Benjie A. Avecilla
SUBMITTED TO:
Prof. Oscar Vallejo
 EXPERIMENTS IN BIOCHEMISTRY
By: Benjie A. Avecilla

A. TEST FOR PROTEINS

Objectives:

• Perform standard chemical test for proteins.

• Relate indicator reactions to the presence of organic nutrients.
Materials:

• 0.5 M sodium hydroxide solution

• 0.5 M copper (II) sulfate solution
• Droppers
• Test tubes
• Test tube racks
• Food example (egg white, cooked fish, cooked meat, cooked legumes, taho)
Procedure:
Biuret Test
1. Place a pinch of food example to be tested into a test tube.
2. Add 5 drops of NaOH and 5 drops of CuSO4 solution to the test tube.
3. Gently shake the text tube.
4. Observe the content of each test tubes (using white paper as background). If the food
contains protein, it will turn pink or blue-violet. Record the amount (0, +, ++, +++, ++++) of
proteins for each food substances in table C.
Positive Test: Biuret is clear or light blue in the absence of protein and pink or blue-violet in
the presence of proteins.
Amount of 0 + ++ +++ ++++
protein in None Trace Little protein Moderate Much
food protein protein
Color Light Blue Light Pink Pink Blu-violet Dark-blue
violet

CAUTION: Biuret reagent can burn your skin. Wash of spills & splash immediately with
plenty of water. Inform the teacher when this occur.
RESULT:
In this experiment I conducted the Test for Proteins which indicated in the first page.
Before I started the experiment, I just want to give the definition of proteins. So according to
MEDLINE PLUS, Proteins are large, complex molecules that play many critical roles in the
body. They do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function, and
regulation of the body’s tissues and organs.

Proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units called amino acids,
which are attached to one another in long chains. There are 20 different types of amino acids
that can be combined to make a protein. The sequence of amino acids determines each
protein’s unique 3-dimensional structure and its specific function. Amino acids are coded by
combinations of three DNA building blocks (nucleotides), determined by the sequence of
genes.

I test the 3 materials to compare the result if there’s a change in each test. The first
material that I tested is the egg white, which I put in a test tube and add five drops of Copper
Sulfate (CuSO4) and five drops of Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), and after that I gently shake
the test tube to see the result and finally the material that I tested turned into violet which
shows it is positive in Proteins. The second one is the egg yolk, so I put the egg yolk to the
test tube and add five drops of Copper Sulfate (CuSO4) and five drops of Sodium Hydroxide
(NaOH), and after that I gently shake the test tube to see the result and finally the material
that I tested which is the egg yolk turned to dark color, so I doubt the result of the second test
but I realize that it turned dark because the egg yolk is color yellow so it shows that if it
turned into dark it contains a proteins. My professor asked me about which of the egg white
and egg yolk has more on protein? So, I search about this thing so therefore I conclude that
egg yolk contains more proteins. The last material that I test is the orange juice, it is the same
process on the first two test I put the orange juice to the test tube and add five drops of
Copper Sulfate (CuSO4) and five drops of Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), and there’s no any
changes happened to the material so it means that orange juice has no proteins at all.
EVIDENCES: