Food Chemistry

Effect of Temperature on Stability of Vitamin C

Laboratory Experiment No. 11

INTRODUCTION

Vitamin C is an antioxidant vitamin needed for the formation of collagen to hold the cells
together and for healthy teeth, gums and blood vessels; improves iron absorption and
resistance to infection. Vitamin C can be found in many fresh vegetables and fruits, such as
broccoli, green and red peppers, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, lemon, cabbage,
pineapples, strawberries, citrus fruits [2]. Vitamin C is also called ascorbic acid. A child from
ages 1-10 should get 40-45 mg of Vitamin C. Adults and adolescents should get 50-60 mg. If a
person has just gone through major surgery, had a serious injury, got burnt, or was in extreme
temperatures, they would need Vitamin C more than an average human being [3]. They can
easily oxidize to dehydro ascorbic acid. Thus in the iodometric titration of ascorbic acid,
the ascorbic acid is quantitatively oxidized by iodine [1].

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Heat is the fast and rapid movement of molecules. It increases the rate of most chemical
reactions, especially with oxygen. Vitamin C is damaged by heat by increasing its rate of
oxidation. Temperature is the measurement of heat. It may be measured in two forms: Celsius
and Fahrenheit. Sir Isaac Newton discovered the two laws of thermodynamics (the study of
different forms of energy). The first law says that energy may be changed to a different form, but
not created or destroyed. Heat, light, chemical and electrical energy are all forms of energy.
The second law of thermodynamics states: "in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or
leaves the system, the potential energy state will always be less than that of the initial state."
This is sometimes referred to as entropy [3].

Nagy, in his Review of Vitamin C Contents of Citrus Fruit and Their Products, investigated what
factors affected the vitamin C contents of citrus fruits. Vitamin C levels depend on six main
factors: Production factors and climate conditions: High nitrogen fertilizer rates can lower
vitamin C levels in citrus fruits. Proper potassium levels are also needed for good vitamin C
levels. Additionally, climate, especially temperature -- total available heat -- affects vitamin C
levels. Areas with cool nights produce citrus fruits with higher vitamin C levels. Hot tropical
areas produce fruit with lower levels of vitamin C. Environmental conditions that increase the
acidity of citrus fruits also increase vitamin C levels.

Maturity state and position on the tree: Vitamin C decreases during the ripening process.
Immature fruit has the highest levels. The position on the tree also affects vitamin C levels.
Since sunlight exposure enhances vitamin C levels, fruit positioned on the outside of the tree
and on the south side have higher levels. Shaded inside fruit has the lowest.

Type of citrus fruit (species and variety): Early maturing varieties have higher levels those late
maturing types. Early Hamlin and Navel fruits have more vitamin C than the late maturing
Valencia. Tangerines tend to have lower levels of vitamin C than oranges due to its lower acid
levels. Studies have found that the peel had the highest levels of vitamin C followed by the pulp
then the juice. Only 26% of vitamin C of a citrus fruit can be found in the juice. The peel had
53% and the pulp and rag had 21%.

Parameters used for processing into different products: Frozen concentrated orange juice
(FCOJ) and reconstituted FCOJ almost always have higher levels of vitamin C and is above the
100% US RDA values. This is most likely due to blending of early-season fruit with late season
fruit. Canned single strength orange juice will have lower vitamin C levels due to heating during
the canning process. NFC, Not -From-Concentrate, will vary due to the varieties being
processed.

Handling and storage: Oxygen is the most destructive ingredient in juice causing degradation of
vitamin C. However, one of the major sugars found in orange juice, fructose, can also cause
vitamin C breakdown. The higher the fructose content, the greater the loss of vitamin C.
Conversely, higher acid levels of citric and malic acids stabilize vitamin C. Orange juice must be
stored at proper cool temperatures with oxygen barriers for best retention of vitamin C levels.
When fresh citrus is stored at 38°F for 12 weeks, there was no loss of vitamin C, but when
stored at high temperatures, the loss was great.

Type of container: In cans, which are not used very much today, it was found that enamel-lined
cans had higher losses of vitamin C than plain tin cans. This was due to residual oxygen and
vitamin C reacting with the tin. Glass packed orange juice provides poor retention of vitamin C,
losing 10% after 4 months of storage. Older cardboard cartons lost up to 20%. (Today, most
cartons have specially designed multi-layered oxygen and light barriers to protect both loss of
vitamin C, flavor, and to enhance shelf-life.) FCOJ packed in foil-lined cardboard cans retained
greater than 90% of their vitamin C after 12 months at -20°C [4].

In the iodometric titration, this is based on the oxidation of iodide into iodine. Iodometry is used
to determine the amount of oxidizing agent. The amount of oxidizing agent is determined by
titration of iodine with thiosulfate. Starch is used as an indicator; the endpoint detection is based
on the formation of blue starch complex [1].

METHODOLOGY

Materials:

Knife, blender, analytical balance, volumetric flask, Erlenmeyer flask, chopping board, beaker,
pipette, water bath, buret, aspirator

Reagents:

Aqueous indophenols solution, 0.04 %, oxalic acid, 0.4 %, distilled water

Sample:

Fresh fruits

Procedure:

1. Measure 50 ml of juice into a screw-capped test tube and place in 60, 80, and 100
degree centigrade water bath.
2. Measure ascorbic acid content of the juice at 30-minute intervals for two hours.
3. Take 2 ml aliquot and determine ascorbic acid content as in the above procedure.
4. Plot the amount of ascorbic acid lost against time.
5. Draw a line tangent to the curve and determine the slope, R
6. Plot the K vs. 1/T, where K is the reaction rate.
7. The slope curve is in a Ea/R.
8. Calculate the energy of activation from the equation, K=Ae-Ea/RT

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

 TIME ASCORBIC ACID content
MINUTE SAMPLE 60 °C SAMPLE 80°C
0 DALANDAN 2 ml KALAMANSI 2.5 ml
KALAMANSI 2 ml KAMIAS 13 drops
30 KALAMANSI 3.5 ml KALAMANSI 1.5 ml
DALANDAN 1.75 ml KAMIAS 9 drops
60 KALAMANSI 2.5 ml KALAMANSI 2.3 ml
DALANDAN 2ml KAMIAS 6 drops
TABLE 1.0 vitamin C stability at different time and temperature combination

The stability of vitamin C generally increases as the temperature of the food is lowered.
However, in general, the largest losses of non-citrus foods will occur during heating. Thus, as
shown in table 1.0, for kalamansi at 60 degree centigrade for as the time of exposure increases
from 0 to 30 minutes, there’s no noted decrease in the ascorbic acid content of dalandan except
in 30 minutes in which the titrated potassium iodide increase then at 60 minutes, it decreases.
From this, we could infer that if the amount of potassium iodide added to the aliquot decreases,
then there’s a loss in vitamin C content of the citrus juice as the time in the same temperature
increases. For dalandan, it can be seen that there’s a decrease in vitamin C content as the time
increases except in 60 minutes that the amount of titrant titrated to the aliquot increase in 0.5
ml, this may be due to the over titration of the titrant to the aliquot.For 80 minutes for the sample
kalamansi, it can be seen that as the time increases, the vitamin C content also decreases
except for the sample exposed to 60 minutes because there’s an increase in the volume of
titrant titrated to the aliquot, the same reason also for here occur because of the possibility of
over titration of titrant to the aliquot. Whiloe for the sample kamias, as the time of exposure
increases, the vitamin C content decreases and it can be seen in the data form above. From this
result we could infer that heat can damage the vitamin C content in a food and a much higher
degradation of vitamin C will occur if the time of exposure increases.

In this experiment, iodometric titration was used to know the ascorbic acid content of the citrus
and non citrus fruit. This titration uses back titration using the sodium thiosulfate which will back
titrate the excess potassium iodide added in the aliquot with the starch solution which will give
an endpoint of color blue. In the experiment, because the principle of back titration was not used
in the experiment that the potassium iodide was directly titrated to the aliquot, then the titration
is iodimetry but still even the procedure of Iodometry were not follow, still we see that the
temperature as it increases can affect the stability of the vitamin C content in the food. Because
vitamin C is an oxidizing agent, they can easily oxidize to dehydro ascorbic acid. Thus in the
iodometric titration of ascorbic acid, the ascorbic acid is quantitatively oxidized by iodine. As the
process continues, the liberate iodine is used by ascorbic acid and oxidize in dehydro ascorbic
acid. Thus C6H6O6 and iodide ion (I-) are formed. At the end point, when all the amount of
ascorbic acid get oxidized then the excess of iodine reacts with starch and make the blue
colored complex. This shows the end point [1].

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATION

Vitamin C content stability of kalamansi at 60 degree centigrade can be noted that the
degradation of this at this temperature were not that great compared to the vitamin C content of
kalamansi exposed to 80 degree centigrade. While for dalandan, it can be noted that as the time
of exposure increase at 60 degree centigrade, the vitamin C stability also decreases. For
kamias exposed to 80 degree centigrade as the time increases, there’s a much vitamin C
content degradation observed. Vitamin C stability in the food can be degraded using long time
and high temperature combination. Using iodometric titration we would be able to know the
vitamin C content of the food but because the procedure for this titration were not followed
because of not using sodium thiosulfate as the titrant for back titration, we would not be able to
know the concentration of the vitamin c content of the samples.

In making the same experiment as this, make sure that all of the reagents are present and as
long as possible know the principle of the titration that will be used in the experiment to be able
to observed and record the result properly and also to be able to compute the ascorbic acid
content of the sample using this titration method.

REFERENCES:

[1] http://chemistry.tutorvista.com/analytical-chemistry/iodometric-titration.html

[2] http://www.nutristrategy.com/nutrition/vitaminc.htm

[3] http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2001/BryanT.html

[4] http://www.ultimatecitrus.com/c_determin.html