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BIOL 1107L Post Lab 3

The document summarizes an experiment testing three dietary supplements (Protein Bomb, Mongo Vit, GNC) for the presence of organic macromolecules using staining tests. The tests were Lugol's reagent for starch, ninhydrin for amino acids, biuret reagent for protein, and Benedict's reagent for monosaccharides. All supplements tested positive for protein via the biuret test. Additionally, each supplement tested positive for at least one other macromolecule. The conclusion is that while the supplements contain protein as claimed, they also contain small amounts of other macromolecules.

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Fabiola Clermont
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184 views

BIOL 1107L Post Lab 3

The document summarizes an experiment testing three dietary supplements (Protein Bomb, Mongo Vit, GNC) for the presence of organic macromolecules using staining tests. The tests were Lugol's reagent for starch, ninhydrin for amino acids, biuret reagent for protein, and Benedict's reagent for monosaccharides. All supplements tested positive for protein via the biuret test. Additionally, each supplement tested positive for at least one other macromolecule. The conclusion is that while the supplements contain protein as claimed, they also contain small amounts of other macromolecules.

Uploaded by

Fabiola Clermont
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Fabiola Clermont

BIOL 1107L
PILOTE
9/03/2015

Experiment #2
Subject: Testing for organic molecules in dietary supplements

1. Question/ Intro/ Relevant background info


You are given three dietary supplements
o (A) Protein Bomb (B) Mongo Vit (C) GNC.
The purpose of the experiment is to determine what macromolecules are in these
supplements using four staining tests
o (1) Lugols reagent (2) Ninhydrin (3) Biuret reagent (4) Benedicts
reagent.
Are the supplements mostly made of protein as claimed or do they contain fillers like
starch and sugar?
2. Procedure/ general approach
You are going to mix in a test tube, 5mL of supplement with 1mL of your testing
solution. The resulting color will determine whether or not a certain macromolecule is
present in the solution. For ninhydrin, you must heat all your solutions to 80 degrees
Celsius for 5-10 minutes before observing color change (remember to work with
ninhydrin under the fume hood). For Benedicts reagent, you must heat your solution to
65 degrees Celsius for 4-7 minutes before observing color change. For Biuret reagent,
you need to use 2mL instead of 1mL. You are going to be doing two trials.
Test

What macromolecules you are testing for

Lugol
Ninhydrin
Biuret
Benedict

Starch
Amino acid
Protein
Monosaccharide

In order to determine whether or not a supplement tests positive for a certain


macromolecule, you first have to create a control group. In a one test tube, mix 5mL of
water with 1 mL of lugols solution. The resulting color will be your negative control. In
another test tube, mix 5mL of a starch with 1mL of lugols solution. The resulting color
will be your positive control group. Repeat these steps with all your tests remembering to
heat benedicts and ninhydrin and use 2mL of biuret.
Lugol

Positive
Dark blue/ black

Negative
Light tan/ brown

Ninhydrin

Purple

Yellow

Biuret

Dark violet

Light blue

Benedict

Red/ orange

Light blue

3. Results/ data
1.
2.
3.
4.

Lugol
Ninhydrin
Biuret
Benedict

(A) Protein Bomb


YES
YES
YES
YES

(B) Mongo Vit


YES
X
YES
X

(C) GNC
X
YES
YES
X

From the results of all your tests, you should be able to see that all of the dietary
supplements tested positive for biurets reagent. Also notice that all of the dietary
supplements tested positive for at least one other test in addition biurets reagent.
4. Conclusion
Given the results of the experiment, we can conclude that all of the dietary supplements
do indeed contain protein because they all tested positive for Biurets reagent test.

However, since all the supplements tested positive for at least one other test, we can
conclude that the dietary supplements all contain trace amounts of at least one other
macromolecule besides protein.

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