St.

John’s Senior Secondary School and Junior College

Mandaveli Chennai – 600028

A CHEMISTRY PROJECT
“STUDY OF THE OXALATE ION CONTENT IN GUAVA FRUIT”
Submitted in the partial Fulfilment of the requirement for
AISSCE 2010-2011

By
Abdud Dayan Adeeb
Of Class XII C
 St. John’s Senior Secondary School
Gola Gokaran Nath

A CHEMISTRY PROJECT
“STUDY OF THE OXALATE ION CONTENT IN GUAVA FRUIT”
Submitted in the partial Fulfilment of the requirement for
CBSE 2012-2013

By
RISHABH SINGH GANGWAR
Of Class XII
 CONTENTS

 INTRODUCTION
 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
 REQUIREMENTS
 THEORY
 CHEMICAL EQUATIONS
 PROCEDURE
 PRECAUTIONS
 OBSERVATIONS
 CALCULATIONS
 CONCLUSION
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 STUDY OF OXALATE ION CONTENT IN
GUAVA FRUIT

INTRODUCTION

Guava is sweet, juicy and light or dark green coloured fruit. It is

cultivated in all parts of India. When ripe it acquires yellow colour
and has penetrating strong scent. The fruit is rich in vitamin C and
minerals. It is a rich source of oxalate and its content in the fruit
varies during different stages of ripening.

Guava fruit, usually 4 to 12 cm long, are round or oval depending on

the species. The outer skin may be rough, often with a bitter taste, or
soft and sweet. Varying between species, the skin can be any
thickness, is usually green before maturity, but becomes yellow,
maroon, or green when ripe.
Guava fruit generally have a pronounced and typical fragrance,
similar to lemon rind but less sharp. Guava pulp may be sweet or
sour, off-white ("white" guavas) to deep pink ("red" guavas), with the
seeds in the central pulp of variable number and hardness, again
depending on species

1|Page
 WHAT IS OXALATE?

Oxalate is an organic acid, primarily found in plants, animals and

humans. It is not an essential molecule and is excreted from our
body in an unchanged form. Our body either produces oxalate on its
own or it converts other molecules like vitamin C to oxalate. External
sources like the foods we eat also contribute to the accumulation of
oxalate in our body. The oxalate present in the body is excreted in
our urine as a waste. Too much of oxalate in our urine, results in a
medical condition called as hyperoxaluria, commonly referred to as
kidney stones. Diet is looked upon as a preventive measure in
addition to medicines to treat kidney stones. Read more on what
causes kidney stones.

OBJECTIVE OF PROJECT
In this project, we will learn to test for the presence of oxalate ions in
the guava fruit and how its amount varies during different stages of
ripening.

2|Page
 REQUIREMENTS

MATERIALS REQUIRED

100 ml Measuring Flask Pestle and Mortar

BeakerTitration Flask

3|Page
FunnelBurette

Pipette Weight-Box

4|Page
Filter Paper Guava fruit at different stages of ripening

CHEMICALS REQUIRED

Dilute H2SO4

N
KMnO4 solution
20

5|Page
 THEORY

Oxalate ions are extracted from the fruit by boiling pulp with dil.
H2SO4. Then oxalate ions are estimated volumetrically by titrating the
solution with standard KMnO4 solution.

Titration is a common laboratory method of quantitative chemical

analysis that is used to determine the unknown concentration of a
known reactant. Because volume measurements play a key role in
titration, it is also known as volumetric analysis. A reagent, called
the titrant or titrator, of a known concentration (a standard solution)
and volume is used to react with a solution of
the analyte or titrand, whose concentration is not known. Using a
calibrated burette or chemistry pipetting syringe to add the titrant, it
is possible to determine the exact amount that has been consumed
when the endpoint is reached. The endpoint is the point at which the
titration is complete, as determined by an indicator (see below). This
is ideally the same volume as the equivalence point—the volume of
added titrant at which the number of moles of titrant is equal to the
number of moles of analyte, or some multiple thereof (as
in polyprotic acids). In the classic strong acid-strong base titration,
the endpoint of a titration is the point at which the pH of the
reactant is just about equal to 7, and often when the solution takes
on a persisting solid colour as in the pink of
phenolphthalein indicator.

6|Page
 CHEMICAL EQUATIONS

Molecular Equations

2KMnO4 + 3H2SO4 K2SO4 + 2MnSO4 + 2H2O + 4[O]

60 70o C
HOOC-COOH.2H2O +[O] 
 2CO2 + 2H2O x 5

3KMnO4 + 3H2SO4 +5HOOC-COOH.2H2O

K2SO4 + 2MnSO4 + 18H2O + 10CO2

Ionic Equations

MnO4- +16H++ 5e- Mn2+ + 4H2O x 2

C2 O 4 2CO2 + 2e-x 5

2MnO4- + 16H+ + 5C2O42- 2Mn2+ +8H2O + 10CO2

7|Page
 PROCEDURE
1. Weigh 50.0g of fresh guava and crush it to a fine pulp using pestle-
mortar.

2. Transfer the crushed pulp to beaker and add about 50 ml dil. H2SO4 to it

8|Page
3. Boil the contents for about 10 minutes.

4. Cool and filter the contents in a 100 ml measuring flask. Make the
volume upto 100 ml by adding distilled water.

9|Page
5. Take 20 ml of the solution from the measuring flask into a titration flask
and add 30 ml of dilute sulphuric acid to it.

N
6. Heat the mixture to about 60oC and titrate it against KMnO4 solution
20
taken in a burette. The end point is appearance of permanent light-pink
colour.

7. Repeat the above experiment with 50.0 g of 1, 2 and 3 days old guava
fruit.

10 | P a g e
 PRECAUTIONS

1. KMnO4 solution is always taken in the burette.

2. Avoid the use of burette having a rubber tap as KMnO4attacks rubber.
3. In order to get some idea about the temperature of the solution touch
the flask to the back side of your hand. When it becomes unbearable to
touch, the required temperature is reached.
4. Add about an equal volume of dil. H2SO4 to the guava extract to
be titrated (say a full test tube) before adding KMnO4.
5. Read the upper meniscus while taking burette reading with
KMnO4 solution.
6. In case, on addition of KMnO4a brown ppt. appears, this shows
that either H2SO4 has not been added or has been added in
insufficient amount. In such a case, throw away the solution
and titrate again.
7. The concentration of oxalate ion obtained from the filtrate is
unfavourably high. If the titration is carried with concentrated
filtrate, the scale of the burette is out of scope in regard to the
concentration of the oxalate ion. So diluting the concentrated
filtrate to an appropriate proportion and titrating it with
KMnO4 and estimating the end point will make itfavourable.
After estimating the end from the diluted solution, the original
concentration of the concentrated filtrate can be calculated by
multiplying the concentration the estimated filtrate with the
factor by which it was diluted.

11 | P a g e
 OBSERVATIONS

Weight of guava fruit taken each time = 50.0 g

Volume of guava extract taken in each titration = 20.0 ml
1
Normality of KMnO4solution = N
20

Guava extract Initial reading Final reading Volume of the Strength of

From of the burette of the burette N/20 KMnO4 Oxalate
solution (ml)
Fresh Guava

One Day Old

Guava

12 | P a g e
 CALCULATIONS

For fresh guava

N1V1 = N2V2
(guava extract) (KMnO4 solution)

1
N1 x 10 = x 𝑥
20

𝑥
Normality of oxalate, N1 =
200

Strength of oxalate in fresh guava extract

= Normality x Eq. mass of oxalate ion
𝑥
= x 44 g/litre of the diluted extract
200

Similarly, calculate the strength of oxalate in 1, 2 and 3 days old guava

extract and interpret the result.

For One day old guava

N1V1 = N2V2
(guava extract) (KMnO4 solution)

1
N1 x 10 = x 𝑥
20

𝑥
Normality of oxalate, N1 =
200

Strength of oxalate in one day guava extract

= Normality x Eq. mass of oxalate ion
𝑥
= x 44 g/litre of the diluted extract
200

Similarly, calculate the strength of oxalate in 1, 2 and 3 days old guava

extract and interpret the result.

13 | P a g e
 CONCLUSION

The concentration of the oxalate ion increases with

increase with ripening

14 | P a g e
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INDIAN INSTITUTE OF APPLIED SCIENCE:

http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/aug102001/248.pdf
2. www.wikipedia.org
3. Comprehensive Practical Chemistry for Class XII

15 | P a g e