Chemistry Project 2009
ECoS Faculty: Scott Phillips and Jackie
Bortiatynski
ECoS Undergraduate Mentor: Sean Haggerty
Carrot Chemistry
This project uses enzymes found in carrots to catalyze chemical
reactions. The goal of this project is to develop
environmentally-friendly (i.e., “green”) methods for producing useful
chemicals. Green chemistry describes sustainable and environmentally
friendly chemical practices. This movement includes efforts to reduce
or eliminate the use of hazardous materials and the production of
pollution; sustainable practices attempt to minimize environmental
damage at its source by limiting the use of harmful compounds. Thus,
naturally occurring substances, rather than those derived from
industrial processes, have an important place in green chemistry.
A catalyst is any compound that facilitates but is not consumed by a
chemical reaction. Therefore, a small amount of catalyst may act on a
large amount of material by carrying out the reaction many times. As
such, catalysts are suitable for green chemistry, and those that are
easily collected from natural material are particularly suitable. This
experiment will use an enzyme present in carrots to carry out a well
understood organic reaction. The enzyme will be obtained from ordinary
carrots, which will be diced and combined with water. The reaction
should begin immediately (once the substrate is added) and may be
expected to continue for approximately two hours, during which the
progress of the reaction will be monitored by thin-layer chromatography
(TLC). Once the reaction is complete, the carrot will be removed and
the solution will be separated by liquid-liquid extraction. The desired
product will then be resolved by column chromatography and analyzed.
If carrots contain the enzyme that participates in this reaction, then
similar plants may as well. Students will apply the procedure described
above to other plants and will observe their effects on the reaction.
This investigation teaches the fundamentals of green chemistry as well
as lab techniques such as column chromatography and analytical methods
like TLC.