PIYUSH

CLASS XII-SCIENCE
ROLL NO. - 9123850
CHEMISTRY PROJECT-CAFFEINE
IN TEA SAMPLES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
S
I would like to thank my teachers Mr.
JITENDRA TIWARI and Mr. SANJAY
GAYAKWAD
for their support
who helped me in completing my
project on the TOPIC DETERMINATION
OF CAFFEINE IN TEA SAMPLES

PIYUSH

CERTIFICATE
This is to hereby certify that, I student of class XII
Science completed my project work on the topic
DETERMINATION
OF CAFFEINE IN TEA SAMPLES under the guidance
of my
teachers.

SIGNATURE
(subject teacher)

AIM
DETERMINATIO
N OF CAFFEINE
IN TEA
SAMPLES

INTRODUCTION
Tea is a highly popular drink all over the world. A cup of tea
is often taken as a mind-freshner. This can be primarily
attributed to the presence of a stimulant called CAFFEINE in
the tea. Besides this tea also contains various polyphenolic
compounds that act as flavourings agents. Relative contents
of these compounds result in different varieties available under
different brand names .The quality of tea leaves also greatly
influence of the taste of the tea.Tea is popular name of the
tropical plant whose botanical name is Camellia thea. India is the
largest producer of good quality tea and it is mainly grown in
slope of hills of Assam, West Bengal and Nilgiri Hills. A cup
of Indian tea contains 80mg of caffeine which is the
indispensable content of tea.
Caffeine is a nitrogenous organic compound of alkaloid group.
These groups of substances have a marked physiological effect
on the human body when taken in considerable amount. It is
widely used as a stimulant of the central nervous system and
also has hypotonic and sleep inducing effect. Pure caffeine

has the general formula C8H10N402. IUPAC name of this

substance is 1, 3, 7-trimethyl xanthamine. It occurs as a white
powder that melts at around 2380 C. It is fairly soluble in hot
water and on cooling the solution gives crystals made up of
caffeine monohydrate. In this case the compound is less
soluble in organic solvents than in hot water. It is odorless but
even a small amount have a very bitter taste. Caffeine is the
main flavoring agent in the tea leaves. It is obtained from the
decaffeination of tea dustand also from coffee.It exerts a
simulative effect on the cerebral cortex but later has a
depressant and narcoticaction. It is also useful in cardiac
dropsy. An abnormal sate arising from caffeine is called
caffeinism. The main symptoms are nervousness, Insomnia
and Tachycardia. It is used in medicines in the form of
chlorides and nitrates. In this project we will do a careful study
of different brands of tea and will extract and carefully analyze
their caffeine content. The result would thus tell the exact
content of caffeine present in different samples .

APPARATUS REQUIRED
1. ROUND BOTTOM FLASK.
2. BUNSEN BURNER, MATCH STICK.
3. BEAKERS. (250ml AND 75 ml)

CHEMICALS REQUIRED
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Basic lead nitrate

Lead oxide
Chloroform
Distilled water
Dilute mineral acid

INDEX
1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
2. CERTIFICATE
3. AIM
4. INTRODUCTION
5. APPARATUS AND CHEMICALS
REQUIRED
6. PROCEDURE
7. OBSEVATION
8. INFERENCE

Procedure
1. In a litre round bottom flask 40gm of first sample was
taken.
2. To this about 250ml of distilled water was added and
thecontents were refluxed for about an hour.
3. The brown colour extracted is separated by
decantationfollowed by filtration when still hot.
4.Lead acetate is dissolved into water in 250ml beaker.
5. The solution is boiled and the lead oxide is added
slowly tothe boiling solution with constant stirring.
6. It is filtered and again boiled.
7.The filterate thus obtained is added dropwise to this
extract till precipitation occurs.
8.The filtrate is treated with animal charcoal to
decolouriseextract.
9. The clear solution is extracted with 100mg of
chloroform afterseparating by filtration.

10. The total solution is taken into distillation flask to

remove thesolvent by distillation.
11. The residue left in the flask is dissolved in minimum
amount of hot water and the dissolved contents are
transferred to theboiling tube.
12. The solution is kept for slow crystallization.
13. When the white crystalline solid comes out of the
solution it isfiltered, dried in desiccators and weighed.
14. The above procedure is repeated for all samples of
tea.
15. The observations are carefully recorded.

The chemistry involved in

the experiment is as
follows:
1. Caffeine being soluble in water goes into the
solution on refluxing.
2. Lead oxide when added to lead acetatesolution
helps lead to precipitate and comeout in the form
of insoluble lead sulphate as it is a basic oxide.
3. The activated charcoal adsorbs the
colouredpigments from the brown coloured
solution.
4. Chloroform is used for extracting the caffeineas it
is a more soluble in CHCl3 than in coldwater.
5. On boiling caffeine being more volatileevaporates
leaving a white mass behind.

6. On boiling caffeine being more volatileevaporates

leaving a white mass behind.

OBSERVATION
About 50 gm of each sample was taken. The
contentsof caffeine of the samples were noted
and theirpresence in terms of percentage was
calculated.
NAME OF
TASTE
THE TEA

1.

RED

CAFFEINE

PERCENTAGE

CONTENTS COMPOSITION

0.029

0.0725%

LABEL
2. TAJ

SOOTHING
0.05

0.0125%

MAHAL
3

TATA

MILD &

SLIGHTLY
PLEASANT

0.036

0.09%

STRONG

TEA

LIPTON

PLEASANT

0.047

0.1175%

VERY
STRONG

INFERENCE
FROM THE CAFFEINE CONTENT AND THE
TASTEOF THE TEA AS DESCRIBED ABOVE
SHOWS THAT THE GREATER THE
AMOUNT OF CAFFEINE, THE BITTERNESS
AND STIMULATING EFFECT OF THE TEA.