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
Sharma
(Chemistry Teacher)
(Principal)
_________________

M. P.

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
Page number

1.

Topic

Cover page

2.

Declaration

ii
3.

Certificate
4.

iii
Acknowledgement

iv
5.

Contents

v
6.

Introduction

7.

Required Materials

8.

Theory

9.

Procedure

1
2
3
4

10.

Observations

5
11.

Results

6
12.

Precautions

7
13.

Bibliography

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, 50C, 75C,
and 98C (independent variable).
The samples are cooled to a standard temperature of 35C.
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
Tempera
ture

35(room

Initial
Final
Total Numb
reading readin volum er of
(ml)
g
e
drops
(ml)
(ml)

48

50

41

temp.)

50

43.4 45.2 1.8

37

75

45.2 46.7 1.5

32

100

46.7 47.8 1.1

26

Temperat
ure

35(room

Initial
Final
Total Numb
reading readin volum er of
(ml)
g
e
drops
(ml)
(ml)

30

31.8 1.8

38

31.7 33.1 1.4

30

temp.)

50

75
100

33.3 34.3

34.3 35.0 0.7

25
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