Aim:

The aim of the investigation is to compare the levels of vitamin C in commercially

produced juices and natural and freshly squeezed juices with no additives.

Research question:
Does the amount of vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) vary between fresh juices and
commercially produced juices?

Introduction
Vitamin C also known as ascorbic acid is a vitamin that is naturally found in
certain foods while it is artificially added in others and it is also available as a
supplement. Humans unlike most animals cannot store vitamin C in the body
and need a daily intake of food that contains it. Vitamin C plays an important role
in a number of bodily functions including the production of collagen, L-carnitine
and some neurotransmitters. It also helps metabolize proteins. Lack of vitamin C
or being deficient of vitamin C can lead to scurvy whose symptoms consist of
swollen joints, bleeding gums, loose teeth, anemia and fatigue. Currently in the
market there are a variety of liquid fruit juices and drinks available. They all
consist of varying amounts of sugar, fruit juice concentrate, citric acid, flavour
and colouring. Many also contain added ascorbic acid. Although fruits juices and
drinks are widely used, little information is available on their ascorbic acid
content. Using this information I decided that I shall be exploring the differences
of vitamin C content found in packaged and commercially produced juices versus
vitamin C found in fresh juices. I am interested in seeing the varying amounts of
vitamin C between these juices considering the fact that vitamin C is a vitamin
that needs to be taken daily and cannot be stored in our body.

Hypothesis
Fresh fruit juices shall have a higher amount of ascorbic acid than that of
commercially produced juices.

Aim
To investigate the vitamin C content in different fruit juices

Variables:

Independent variable: concentration of DCPIP, as the amount of DCPIP will

change
Dependant variable: volume of juice (cm3) required to decolourise DCPIP

Control variables:
Temperature, the temperature was maintained at a room temperature of 24˚C.

Volume of DCPIP, to prevent any systematic uncertainties the same volume of

DCPIP was used.
Apparatus

1. 2,6 dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) solution

2. Distilled water
3. Fresh fruit juices
4. Commercially produced juices
5. Burette
6. Conical flask
7. Clamp stand
8. Test tube
9. Test tube rack
10. Vitamin C solution 1%
11. Measuring cylinder

Method:

 Add a small amount of vitamin C solution to a test-tube (2cm3). This

should then be placed in a test tube rack.
 The DCPIP solution is added to the vitamin C solution a drop at a time
using a burette. While adding the drops continuously mix the conical
flask to mix the two.
 As soon as the colour of the last drop remains in the test tube then stop
and record how many drops it took for the decolourisation to cease.
 This should be repeated several times to get an average calculation of
drops required.
 Do the same with each fruit juice sample. You may need to dilute some of
the juices for this to work correctly because the nature colour of some
may make it difficult to judge when the DCPIP colour remains. Also if any
of the juices are highly acidic, this may also affect the outcome of this
practical.
 For each juice sample, work out how many drops of DCPIP it takes until
decolourisation stops.

Safety risks

Wear eye protection

Wear gloves
Data

Titration of 5 ml of Ascorbic acid with DCPIP solution

Trials Volume of DCPIP used to titrate 5 ml of

Ascorbic acid (ml)
1 21.30
2 21.20
3 21.25
4 21.20
Average 21.24

Concentration of ascorbic acid solution

Ascorbic acid = C6H8O6
Molar mass of ascorbic acid = 176.12

Mass of ascorbic acid = 1g

1 25
Concentration of ascorbic acid = 
176 .12 4403
25
= 4403  5 .68  10 3 mol/L
 1

Titration of fresh and commercial fruit juices with DCPIP solution



Type of juice Trials Volume of DCPIP Average volume of

solution used (ml) DCPIP solution
used (ml)
Fresh orange juice Trial 1 25.6 25.7
Trial 2 25.7
Trial 3 25.6
Trial 4 26.0
Fresh mango juice Trial 1 22.0 21.9
Trial 2 21.9
Trial 3 21.8
Trial 4 21.9
Commercial Trial 1 24.8 24.4
orange juice Trial 2 24.7
Trial 3 23.0
Trial 4 24.9
Commercial Trial 1 19.8 19.7
mango juice Trial 2 19.9
Trial 3 19.7
Trial 4 19.5
 Average volume of DCPIP solution uses
in the titration of ascorbic acid, fresh
juices and commercial juices
30
average volume of DCPIP solution used

25

20

15

10

0
ascorbic acid fresh orange fresh mango commercial commercial
juice juice orange juice mango juice

Mass (g) of ascorbic acid in 100 ml of fresh orange juice:

Moles of vitamin C = concentration  volume

Mass = molar mass of vitamin C  concentration of DCPIP  volume of DCPIP

25 .7
= 171.6  5.68  10-3 
1000
= 0.250 g/5 ml
= 100 g/ 100 ml

Mass (g) of ascorbic acid in 100 ml of fresh mango juice:

Moles of vitamin C = concentration  volume

Mass = molar mass of vitamin C  concentration of DCPIP  volume of DCPIP

21 .9
= 171.6  5.68  10-3 
1000
= 0.213g/5 ml
= 85.2 g/100 ml

Mass (g) of ascorbic acid in 100 ml of commercial orange juice:

Moles of vitamin C = concentration  volume

Mass = molar mass of vitamin C  concentration of DCPIP  volume of DCPIP

24 .4
= 171.6  5.68  10-3 
1000
= 0.024 g/5 ml
= 9.51 g/100 ml

Mass (g) of ascorbic acid in 100 ml of commercial mango juice:

Moles of vitamin C = concentration  volume

Mass = molar mass of vitamin C  concentration of DCPIP  volume of DCPIP

19 .7
= 171.6  5.68  10-3 
1000
= 0.0192 g/5ml
= 7.68 g/100 ml


Comparison of average vitamin C concentration in commercial and fresh fruit

juices

Types of fruit juices Average vitamin C concentration (g/100ml)

Fresh fruit juices Commercial fruit juices
Orange juice 100 9.51
Mango juice 85.2 7.68
 Comparison of Vitamin C in Fresh
Juices And Commercial Juices
120
Mass of Vitamin C (g/100ml)

100

80

60
fresh fuit juice
40 commercial fruit juice
20

0
orange juice mango juice
Types of Fruit Juices

Analysis

Vitamin C can be determined by acid-base reaction or oxidation-reduction

reaction. 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol, DCPIP solution can be used as an
indicator for vitamin C . DCPIP is used as a good indicator because ascorbic acid
has two protons that can accept from ascorbic acid and also ascorbic acid has
two protons which can donate to DCPIP. The C=O from DCPIP accepts to protons
to eventually become C-OH and the C=O is a good proton acceptor because the
C=O is very reactive. If vitamin C, which is a good reducing agent. DCPIP solution
is a weak oxidizing agent, so that it will not oxidize substances other than the
ascorbic acid in the sample of fruit juice. In present, the blue dye, which turns
pink in acid conditions, is reduced to a colourless compound by ascorbic acid.
The following reactions give a brief description of the overall reaction:
DCPIP (blue) + H+  DCPIPH (pink)
DCPIPH (pink) + Vitamin C  DCPIPH2 (colourless)
Balanced equation :
C6H8O6 + C12H7NCl2O2  C6H6O6 + C12H9NCl2O2

In this titration, when all the ascorbic acid in the solution has been used up, there

will not be any electrons available to reduce the DCPIPH and the solution will
remain pink due to the DCPIPH. The end point is a pink colour that persists for
10 seconds ormore.

According to the above graph, the concentration of vitamin C in fresh juices is

higher than that of commercial fruit juices. The highest amount of vitamin C was
found in fresh orange juice with a value of 100g/100 ml followed by fresh mango
juice with 85.2g/100 ml. On the other hand, in commercial fruit juices had a
value of 9.51g/100 ml in orange juice and 7.68g/100 ml in mango juice. A factor
that could have affected the vitamin C values could have been due to the type of
storage. Vitamin C contents are known to be lost when stored at higher
temperatures thus on packaged juices it is advised to refrigerate the juice or
store in a cool, dry place, so that vitamin C is not lost. This is because vitamin C is
sensitive to temperature.

Conclusion
In conclusion the result of this study shows that all of the fresh fruit juices
contains higher amounts of vitamin C concentration as compared to the
concentration of vitamin C found in commercial fruit juices. Moreover fresh juice
is more suitable for drinking daily and replenishing vitamin C levels in the body
compared to commercial juices.
Titration with 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) solution is a suitable
method to determine vitamin C concentration in commercial or fresh fruit juices.
This is because vitamin C can be determined by oxidation-reduction reaction.
Vitamin C is a good reducing agent. The DCPIP solution is a strong oxidizing
agent, so that it will not oxidize substances other than the ascorbic acid in the
sample of fruit juice. Besides that, titration method or called as volumetric
analysis is accurate and precision method compare another methods. In this
study, manipulating a burette and carrying out a quantitative titration properly
are essential to improve the method to get a more accurate and better result in
determining concentration of vitamin C. Apart from titration with DCPIP
solution, determination of vitamin C concentration can also used iodometric
titration method which involves iodine and iodate solution. When iodine solution
is a titrant, vitamin C is oxidised to form dehydroascorbic acid, while the iodine
is reduced to iodide ions. When all vitamin C has finished, the excess iodine
solution will react will starch solution to form blue-black colour as endpoint. The
iodine solution needs to be standardised with pure vitamin C or potassium
thiosulphate because an iodine is unstable.