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POSSIBILITIES OF APPLYING NATURAL EXTRACTS AS ACID-BASE

INDICATORS

Conference Paper · October 2018

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PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 2018 K-22-P

POSSIBILITIES OF APPLYING NATURAL EXTRACTS

AS ACID-BASE INDICATORS
A. Ivanković 1, A. Martinović Bevanda 2, M. Martinović 1, D. Peteović 1, M.
I. Perić 1, F. Drmać 1 and S. Talić 2
1
Faculty of Agronomy and Food technology, University of Mostar,
Biskupa Čule bb, 88000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(anitaivankovic@gmail.com)
2
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Education, University of
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Matice hrvatske bb, 88000 Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT
The paper explores the possibility of using natural extracts as acid-base
indicators. In addition to the standard pH indicators, the natural pH
indicators may be used, such as red cabbage, beets, onions, chicory and
spices curry and turmeric. They all have in common that in contact with
acids and bases they change color, because they contain a compound that
belongs to a group of plant pigments anthocyanins. In this paper were
prepared water extracts of anthocyanins from above mentioned plants and
their reaction on pH change is tested. The best results were obtained by the
red cabbage extract. It gave the whole spectrum of colors depending on the
pH change and its practical application was made in volumetric
determination of citric acid comparing with standard indicators. The values
of citric acid content in lemon, orange, grapefruit and lime juices
volumetrically obtained using the red cabbage extract and phenolphthalein
as a standard indicator show a high positive correlation (R2 = 0.9983).
Concluding that, the red cabbage extract can be used for some simple
volumetric determinations.

INTRODUCTION
Some natural compounds react with color change in the presence of other
substances. Most commonly we associate them with the acidity and the
solubility of the solution. For example, when lemon juice (acid) is added to
slice or barley tea, the tea color changes. Also, if you take red cabbage juice
and add a bit of this extra to vinegar or solution of baking soda it will
change the color again [1].
Many plants or parts of plants contain naturally colored chemicals from
the group of anthocyanin compounds. They are red in acidic solutions and

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blue in alkaline solutions. Anthocyanins are quite reactive and unstable

compounds. They suffer reversible structural transformation with changing
the pH and that has the greatest impact on the color. pH is defined as the
cause of the greatest instability of anthocyanins, and their pigmentation
mostly depends on the pH. The anthocyanins can be extracted with water or
other solvents from a number of colored plants or plant parts, such as roots
of golden beets [2], leaves (red cabbage) [1], cherry juice [3] and flowers [4,
5]. Red cabbage has potential to be used as a visual indicator of pH
variations during storage of packaged food [6].
The aim of this paper is to show that extracts of some plants containing
anthocyanins can be used as acid-base indicators.

EXPERIMENTAL
In this experiment, the extraction of anthocyanin from minced red cabbage,
radish, cycles, purple port, curry and curcuma was carried out. Anthocyanin
extraction from each of the above mentioned samples was performed using
hot water. To determine the possibility of using natural extracts as a pH
indicator, eight different solutions were used, which were used as reference
and had different pH values. These solutions were then used in experiment
to observe color change after mixing with plant extracts. For the success of
the experiment it was necessary to determine the exact pH of the individual
solutions.
The prepared lemon, grapefruit, orange and lime juice samples were
titrated with a standardized solution of 0.1 mol dm-3 NaOH using aqueous
red cabbage extract as indicator and then using phenolphthalein as a
standard indicator to compare the results.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In each of the experiments, the color difference between the first tube
containing the lowest pH and the last one containing the highest pH solution
was clearly seen. There were 12 experiments carried out with different plant
extracts. The red cabbage extract proved to be the best natural pH indicator.
The color spectra obtained by adding the red cabbage extract to each of the
eight solutions of the known pH values can be clearly seen (Table 1). There
is no clear difference only between the lowest and the highest pH values, i.e.
strong acids and strong bases, but the change in color varies at other pH
values. In an aqueous red cabbage extract, pigment anthocyanin is released.
The anthocyanin molecule alters its color depending on the pH value of the
used reference solution. The aqueous red cabbage extract was used as an
indicator for volumetric determination of citric acid content in the juices of
different citrus fruits (Table 2).

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Table 1. Data on the reference solutions and color changes by adding an

aqueous red cabbage extract
Solution pH Color before Color after
adding indicator adding indicator
HCl 1.54 colorless red
CH3COOH 3.30 colorless dark pink
NaCl 7.97 colorless light purple
KCl 8.07 colorless purple
NaHCO3 8.15 colorless dark blue
Dishes detergent 8.71 colorless light green
Laundry detergent 10.56 white green
NaOH 12.73 colorless olive green

Table 2. Content of citric acid in different juice samples (expressed in %)

obtained volumetrically in the presence of red cabbage extract (ERC) and
phenolphthalein (FF)
Indicator Citric acid (% ) Mean value SD
Lemon ERC 6.72 6.60 6.60 6.64 0.069282
FF 6.60 6.66 6.60 6.62 0.034641
Grapefruit ERC 2.63 2.69 2.69 2.67 0.034641
FF 2.63 2.82 2.69 2.71 0.097125
Orange ERC 0.83 0.83 0.90 0.85 0.040415
FF 0.87 0.81 0.81 0.83 0.034641
Lime ERC 6.02 6.08 5.95 6.02 0.065064
FF 6.21 6.27 6.14 6.21 0.065064

Figure 1. Correlation between the values of citric acid content in the citrus
juices obtained by red cabbage extract (ERC) and phenolphthalein (FF) as
indicators

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 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 2018 K-22-P

The values of citric acid content in lemon, orange, grapefruit and lime
juices volumetrically obtained using the red cabbage extract and
phenolphthalein as a standard indicator show a high positive correlation (R2
= 0.9983) (Figure 1). In this case it is a simple experiment that is applicable
in laboratory chemistry teaching.

CONCLUSION
Among all the extracts tested, only the red cabbage extract can be used as a
pH indicator. He showed the clearest spectrum of color at different pH
values used, from acid to alkaline.
The application of the red cabbage extract water proved to be applicable
in a specific experiment. This simple experiment is recommended to be
performed in the laboratory chemistry teaching.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science
of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Grants No. 05-39-2389-1/17,
November 6th 2017).

REFERENCES
[1] A. Munmai and E. Somsook, The Determination of the pKa of Red
Cabbage Anthocyanin by the Spectrophotometric Method and Nonlinear
Curve Fitting, Chem. Educator 2011, 16: 1–3.
[2] P. Thote, Green chemistry: study of acid-base indicator property of
golden beet root, Social Issues and Environmental Problems, 2015, 3
(9).
[3] P. M. A. Khan and M. Farooqui, Analytical Applications of Plant
Extract as Natural pH Indicator: A Review, J Adv Scient Res, 2011,
2(4): 20-27.
[4] G. Kavitha, V. Aswathi, S. G. Chinju, R. Rakhi and A. Elessy, Flowers
as natural indicators, World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 2017,
6(7): 1217-1221.
[5] T. R. Doctor and RA. P. Cababat, Blood leaf (Iresine herbstii) extract
used as an indicator of soil pH, nternational Journal of Scientific and
Research Publications, 2014, 4(10).
[6] S. Pourjavaher, H. Almasi, S. Meshkini, S. Pirsa and E. Parandi,
Development of a colorimetric pH indicator based on bacterial cellulose
nanofibers and red cabbage (Brassica oleraceae) extract, Carbohydrate
Polymers, 2017, 156(20): 193-201.

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