BIO 2210 Introductory Biochemistry

Laboratory exercise 1
Date: February 7, 2017
Qualitative Tests for Carbohydrates on Pure Compounds

1 INTRODUCTION

Carbohydrates are a class of organic molecules with the general formula Cn (H2O) n. This class of
biomolecule are literally carbon hydrates. Only the monomeric form of these compounds, the
monosaccharides (simple sugars), fit this description precisely. Two monosaccharides can be
polymerised together through a glycosidic bond to form a disaccharide. When a few
monosaccharides are polymerised they result in forming an oligosaccharide. A polysaccharide is
an extensive polymer chain of the monosaccharides (carbohydrate monomers

There are several qualitative tests that have been devised to detect members of this biomolecule.
These tests utilise a test reagent that yields a colour change after reacting with specific functional
groups of the compounds they were tested with. The list of tests below, are reactions that can be
used to detect the presence or absence of carbohydrates in test solutions. These are:

I. Barfoeds test: is a subjective test used to detect the presence of monosaccharide in an

unknown solution.
II. Molischs test: is a synthetic test for the checking of present carbohydrates.
III. Iodine test: is used to detect the presence of starch in foods.

2 MATERIALS & METHOD

For this activity, you will ONLY be conducting the IODINE TEST. This is due to the lack of the
reagents to conduct the Barfoeds and Molischs tests.

Place 2 ml of the test solution (see below) in a test tube, then add 1 2 drops of iodine solution.
Warm gently and allow to cool. A blue black colour indicates the presence of carbohydrates.
You must record all changes observed neatly on your lab worksheet, which must be signed by the
lab demonstrators at the end of the lab session.

Preform the iodine test on the following test solutions:

a) 1 % starch
b) 1 % sucrose
c) 1 5 egg albumin

3 OUTPUT

You are required to submit on Tuesday, February 14, 2017, upon entering the lab, a printed and
completed lab report for this exercise. This report will be done in groups of 4 only. No individual
reports.

Your report MUST be typed in TNR, size 12, justified, line spacing 1.5 on letter size page (2.54
cm margins).

BIO 2210 Kalicharan, L. (2017)

List of heading to be incorporated in your report:

1. INTRODUCTION This must be no more than of a page. You are simply introducing
carbohydrates and the experiment conducted.
2. MATERIALS & METHODS see above. Method must be written in a paragraph form
in the past tense.
3. RESULTS: A neat table (typed in font TNR, size 10) showing the results for each test
solution.
4. DISCUSSION This is based on the significance of the test conducted, stating reasons
why you observed such results. This should not give you more than a page.
5. CONCLUSION
6. REFERENCES

Please DO NOT start each heading on a new page and if possible, kindly print back and front.

BIO 2210 Kalicharan, L. (2017)