STUDENT NAME : AMOS BEMO

SUBJECT : CHEMISTRY

TOPIC : ACIDS AND BASES

CLASS : L6

SCHOOL : GOROMONZI HIGH SCHOOL

 ABSTRACT

Interest in natural products for diverse uses is attributed to their different bioactivities, low
toxicity and environmental sustainability. The present work highlights the use of various
natural sources as acid base indicator in different types of acid base titrations as well as
determining their indicator properties. A convenient method of extraction using ethanol and
water (60:40ratio) gave better yield of the indicator extract. The equivalence points obtained
by the flower extract are coincident with the equivalence points obtained by standard
indicators. This natural indicator is found to be very useful, economical, simple and accurate
for said titration.
 Introduction

Indicators are the substances whose solutions change colour due to changes in pH. These are
called acid-base indicators. All pH indicators change colour depending on whether they
donate or accept proton (acids are proton donors and bases are proton acceptors). A pH
indicator is just a weak acid with differently coloured acid and conjugate base forms.
Therefore, pH indicators are themselves acids or bases. Most indicators used are synthetic.

It has been hypothesized that the flower extract could be utilized as an indicator for different
types of acid base titration. Many flowers, fruits and vegetables contain chemical substances
that change colour in solutions of different pH called anthocyanins. These plant pigments can
act as acid-base indicators. Because of the way this pigment reacts to chemicals in the
environment, the plant itself changes its color according to the pH value of the soil. This
explains the fact that the very same plant is known by different colors in various regions
throughout the world, such as Northern Europe, Northern America and China.
Effects of natural indicators in plants occurs in the hydrangea or snowball plant. Hydrangea
flowers are blue when grown in acidic soils and pink or red in basic soils. Litmus, one of the
best indicators. It is a natural indicator, a dye derived from lichens. Gardeners are fond of it
when checking soil pH. Most commonly, it is bonded to paper strips (litmus paper) and used
in that form. Litmus, is blue in bases, red in acids. Other natural indicators include, Red
cabbage, hibiscus flower, red roses, pink roses, red onion and Bougainvillea.

Unlike some commercial indicators that are known to have detrimental effects, we anticipate
that indicators from natural sources could reduce both environmental pollution and the toxic
effect on users.
Materials

distilled water filter paper burette

ethanol funnel pipette

mortar Sodium Hydroxide (1M;0.5M;0.1M) Beakers

pestle Hydrochloric Acid (1M; 0.5M;0.1M) Volumetric flask

hot plate phenolphthalein

Natural Sources

Hibiscus

Bougainvillea

Grape Juice

Experimental Procedure

A few petals were used. The stems, leaves, etc. were removed so that chlorophyll would not
be extracted along with the flower pigments. For the red onion, finely chopped pieces were
used. A volume of 10 mL of solvent (ratio 40:60 water/ethanol mixture) to the sample, and
the contents were mashed using mortar and pestle. The samples were left for 30 minutes to
extract colour. Extracts that were very dilute were concentrated by transferring the contents to
a beaker and heated on a hot plate. Petals, skins, were removed from the extract by filtering.
The extracts were placed in well labelled volumetric flasks. The experiments were carried by
using the same set of glassware for all type of titrations. As the same aliquots were used for
both titrations using standard indicators and flower extract. The equimolar titrations were
performed using 10 mL of titrant with three drops of indicator. A set of four experiments was
carried out.
RESULTS

Table 1

Indicator Source Hibiscus Grape Juice Bougainvillea

Colour of extract Red purple Red

Colour Changes

In HCl

1M Dark pink Dark pink

0.5M Light pink Pink

0.01M Pale pink pink

In NaOH 0.1M Green (fades to greenish brown)

0.5 Brown Olive green

0.01 Dark grey Green

Green
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

For all acid base tests, the colour changes obtained by both flowers and grape juice extract
showed some colour changes in acid and in bases. But it was noted that if we decreased the
strength of weak acid and weak base, the sharpness of colour change was also deceased.

Acidbase indicators are large organic molecules that behave as weak acids i.e. they can
donate hydrogen ions to water molecules to form their conjugate bases (Equation 1). The
distinguishing characteristic of indicators is that the acid (HIn) and conjugate base (In) are
different colours.

HIn(aq) + H2O(l) In(aq) + H3O+(aq) Equation 1

(Colour A) (colour B)
The abbreviation HIn represents an uncharged indicator molecule, and In an indicator ion
after it has lost a hydrogen ion. The colour changes of acidbase indicators illustrate an
application of reversible reactions and equilibrium. Because indicators are weak acids, the
reactions summarized in Equation 1 are reversible. Reversible reactions are easily forced to
go in either direction, depending on reaction conditions. The actual colour of an indicator
solution thus reflects the position of equilibrium for Equation 1 and depends on the
concentration of H3O+ ions (and hence the pH) of the solution. These natural indicators are
found to be very useful, economical, simple and accurate for these titrations.
CONCLUSION
The results obtained in all the acid-base titrations lead us to conclude that it was due to the
presence of anthocyanin We can also conclude that, it is always beneficial to use Hibiscus,
grape juice and bougainvillea flowers extract as an indicator in all types of acid base titrations
because of its economy, simplicity and wild ability. Natural indicators should be exploited to
prevent toxicity among users and pollution of the environment.
REFERNCES

1. F. O. Nwosu, F. A. Adekola and K. C. Ihedioha, Simple Titrimetric Colour

Indicators from Some Natural Flower Petals, Centrepoint (Science Edition), Vol. 12,
No. 1, 2004, pp. 74-89.

2. S. Singh, S. B. Bothara, S. Singh, R. Patel and R. Ughreja, Preliminary

Pharmaceutical Characterization of Some Flowers as Natural Indicators, The Pharma
Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2011, pp. 213-220

3. http://www.scribd.com/document/23473441/IXORA-CHINENSIS-FLOWER-EXTRACT-
NATURAL-INDICATOR

4. https://www.slideshare.net/themassmaker/7-acids-bases-and-salts