Question

The orange color of carrots and orange peel is due mostly to β-carotene, an organic compound insoluble in water but soluble in benzene and chloroform. Describe an experiment to determine the concentration of β-carotene in the oil from orange peel.

Answer 1

Answer:

First Method: Vacuum Distillation and Chromatographic separation of the remains that were precipitated out from the peel.

Second Method: Extraction of components from orange peels by help of precipitation procedures that are mostly done In Situ. Those components can be recovered using the saponification process. Then these are examined under UV light spectroscopy. Now, the existence and extent of carotenoids can be determined by checking the levels of anti-oxidants.