I/Carbohydrates:

1/Introduction:

Carbohydrates are the most abundant class of organic compounds found in plant
and animal cells. They originate as products of photosynthesis. The formulas of
many carbohydrates can be written as CnH2nOn or (CH2O)n .Carbohydrates are
divided into monosaccharides ,disaccharides , polysaccharides.

The excess of glucose (carbohydrate) is stored in form of starch in plants and

glycogen in liver and muscles. The most stables 3D structure for starch and
glycogen is a coiled helix stabilized by inter-chain hydrogen bonds. The core of the
helix is of the right dimensions to accommodate iodine in the form I3- or I5- (deep
blue color) .However, this structure is easily wrecked by heat, enzyme, acidic or
basic treatment. Once it broken, the conformation with iodine no longer exists.

2/Procedure

Task 1: Microscopic observation of starch granules

1. Prepare glass and coverslip

2. Cut and scratch the potato at the edge of the cut

3. Collect the scratching and place on the slide, add a water drop and cover with
coverslip. Observe under microscope

4. After adding1-2 drops of Lugol solution to the edge of the coverslip and observe
the phenomenon

Task 2: Chemical detection of starch

1. Add 5ml of starch suspension into a test tube

2. Take out 1 drop of starch suspension and put onto the glass side. Add 1 drop of
Lugol solution and using toothpick to mix. Observe the color change of this
suspension (compare with the Lugol solution’s color)

3. Add 5 drops of concentrated HCl solution into that test tube. Mix well
4.Take out 1 drop of starch-HCl mixture onto the slide and test the color with 1
drop of Lugol solution

5. Place the test tube containing starch and HCl into the laboratory water bath
(100oC) and boil this suspension. Every 2 minutes, take out 1 drop of the mixture
and put onto a glass side, let it cool down for a while and add 1 drop of Lugol
solution. Observe the change of color intensity.

6. Coninue boil and test with Lugol solution until no color change is detected.
Mark the time that the color does not change

3/ Result:

a)Microscopic observation:

- The initial starch is colorless

Figure 1.Starch observed at objective lense 40x

-Amylose is a component of potato starch. When we add Lugol into starch,

amylose reacts with iodine in Lugol and it changes into deep blue color. This
happen because the structure of amylase allows iodine ions to get in and become
deep blue color complex.
Figure 2: Starch with drops of Lugol
observed at objective lense 10x

Figure 3: Starch with drops of Lugol

observed at objective lense 40x
2/Chemical detection of starch:

-Add Lugol into starch, we got deep blue solution

Lugol solution

Starch with Lugol

-Add Lugol into the mixture of starch and HCl, HCl makes the polymers chain of
starch shorter but we still got deep blue solution, like the previous step

-When we put test tube of HCl and starch into hot water bath, bond between starch
and iodine broke. Add 1 drop of Lugol solution into the mixture after every 2
minutes , we can see that the color slowly change from deep blue to dark brown
and finally is the amber color of Lugol solution

Color of spot

Lugol Amber

Starch only White

Starch-HCl mixture 0 min Deep blue

2 min Deep blue

4 min Deep blue

6 min Dark brown

8 min Brown

10 min Brown yellow

12 min Light brown

20 min No color change

 Figure 4: The change of color intensity

4/ Discussion:

a) Explain the phenomenon when adding Lugol solution to starch granules

When adding Lugol solution, starch change into deep blue color because of
the existence of amylose. The change of color bases on the reaction between
amylose in potato starch granules and iodine ions in Lugol solution

b) Explain the different color in starch- HCl mixture after time of boiling.
Based on the color of spot, why we can say that the structure of starch is
affected by temperature
Starch includes chains of monomers as glucoses. These monomers bonded to
each other by glycosidic linkage. When we add HCl , the polymers chain of
starch becomes shorter. After adding Lugol solution, starch and iodine
combines with each other. However, under the temperature of hot water bath
, the conformation of iodine is no longer lasting. As a result, the color
changes from deep blue to light brown