Lab Investigation

Option B.4 Lipids

Determining the degree of unsaturation of food fats by bromine
water titration
DCP, CE

Introduction
Fatty acids are a class of biologically important organic chemicals,
consisting of a long carbon chain with a carboxylic acid group at the
end. They are the basis of all fats and oils we consume in our diet.

Fatty acids can be classified as saturated or unsaturated fatty

acids. Unsaturated fatty acids have at least one double bond in their
carbon chain, while saturated fatty acid do not. This double bond
typically disrupts the London dispersion forces between fatty acids,
giving unsaturated fatty acids a lower melting point. Because of
this, oils, which are liquid at room temperature, are made of
unsaturated fatty acids, while fats, which are solid at room
temperature, are made of saturated fatty acids.

Unsaturated fatty acids can be made into saturated fatty acids by a

process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is an addition reaction
between the unsaturated fatty acid and hydrogen gas, with a metal
(such as nickel) used to catalyze the reaction. This process is
commonly used in the manufacture of vegetable oil-based
margarines, where it is carefully controlled to make the fat more
solid, but still spreadable and rich in certain nutritionally valuable
fatty acids.

The double bond in unsaturated fatty acids is also capable of

reacting with other compounds, such as molecular halogens, by a
similar addition reaction. In fact, the degree of unsaturation of fatty
acids is typically expressed as the iodine number, or the number of
grams of iodine that reacts with 100 g of fat.
The iodine number can also be measured using bromine. In this
method, fats are titrated with a bromine solution (also called
bromine water). Bromine loses its brown color when it reacts with
the unsaturated fatty acid, so the end point is visible as a sudden
appearance of the brown bromine color. This allows us to determine
how many moles of bromine reacted with the fatty acid double
bonds, which can be converted into an iodine number.
In this lab, we will be using this titration method to determine the
iodine number of sunflower oil.
Materials:
0.0625M bromine water solution
Sunflower oil
Burette and burette stand
Test tubes
Hot water bath
250 mL Erlenmeyer flask (3)
Distilled water

Procedure:
Weigh accurately about 0.5g of sunflower oil into the Erlenmeyer
flask.
Add 25 mL of distilled water, shaking the flask to disperse the oil.

Set up the burette stand, then bring the burette to the fume hood.
Fill the burette with 0.0625M bromine water in the fume hood
only.
Carefully bring the burette to your lab space.
(Bromine can be hazardous if the exposed surface area is large,
but is relatively safe in the burette with adequate ventilation.)

Titrate the butter with bromine water, making sure to shake the
flask vigorously while titrating to ensure that the bromine water
is able to react with as much fat as possible.
The end point occurs when the bromine water color persists for
30 seconds.
(This end point may be more accurate if you turn off as many
lights as possible, as bromine will decolorize naturally when
exposed to light.)

Do as many trials as possible in the time given.

Share your data with your classmates.

Data Processing and Analysis:

Combine your data with that found by the other student groups.
Using this data, calculate the iodine number of sunflower oil.

Using your results and the nutritional data for the oil, comment
on the validity of your results.
 Evaluate the limitations and weaknesses of the lab procedure.

Sources:
Saunders, Nigel. "Comparing the Degree of Unsaturation of
Margarine with That of Butter." Creative Chemistry . 2003. Web.
<http://www.creative-
chemistry.org.uk/alevel/module3/documents/N-ch3-10.pdf>.