Research Report

On

Lycopene content in Tomatoes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am very much obliged to all who have directly or indirectly provided their guidance and kind support and for providing me the opportunity to get training from a world class esteemed College and helped me for completing my research requirement.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Pranav Trivedi (Industrial chemistry Department) ; Mrs. Disha Khetani (Industrial Chemistry Department) . For their guidance and support wherever and whenever required and for extending their kind support and cooperation throughout the training period.

I have got no words to thanks all supervisors and heads of all the departments for their excellent contribution and for giving good shape to my research by their multi disciplinary and expertise.

I am thankful to our Father Principal Fr. (Dr.) V J Braganza, SJ. And our course coordinator vocational cell Ms. Sudeshna Menon for giving us excellent opportunity to study Industrial Chemistry at St. XAVIER’S COLLEGE Ahmedabad.

This Research work is

Dedicated to MY

Beloved Family

& Friends.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

CHAPER II: REVIW OF LITERATURE

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

Materials

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS

Summary

Limitations

Future Recommendations

REFERENCES

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

Lycopene (from the New Latin word lycopersicum for the tomato species name) is a bright red carotene and carotenoid pigment and phytochemical found in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons and papayas (but not strawberries or cherries).

Although lycopene is chemically a carotene, it has no vitamin A activity.

In plants, algae, and other photosynthetic organisms, lycopene is an important intermediate in the biosynthesis of many carotenoids, including beta carotene, responsible for yellow, orange or red pigmentation, photosynthesis, and photo-protection.

Like all carotenoids, lycopene is a polyunsaturated hydrocarbon (an unsubstituted alkene). Structurally, it is a tetraterpene assembled from eight isoprene units, composed entirely of carbon and hydrogen, and is insoluble in water.

Lycopene's eleven conjugated double bonds give it its deep red color and are responsible for its antioxidant activity. Due to its strong color and non-toxicity, lycopene is a useful food coloring.

Lycopene is not an essential nutrient for humans, but is commonly found in the diet, mainly from dishes prepared with tomato sauce.

When absorbed from the stomach, lycopene is transported in the blood by various lipoproteins and accumulates in the liver, adrenal glands, and testes.

Because preliminary research has shown an inverse correlation between consumption of tomatoes and cancer risk, lycopene has been considered a potential agent for prevention of some types of cancers, particularly prostate cancer.

However, this area of research and the relationship with prostate cancer have been deemed insufficient of evidence

for health claim approval by the US Food and Drug Administration

Structure and Physical Properties

Lycopene is a symmetrical tetraterpeneassembled from 8 isoprene units.

It is a member of the carotenoid family of compounds, and because it consists entirely of carbon and hydrogen, is also a carotene.

Isolation procedures for lycopene were first reported in 1910, and the structure of the molecule was determined by 1931.

In its natural, all-transform, the molecule is long and straight, constrained by its system of eleven conjugated double bonds. Each double bond in this

extended π electron system reduces the energy required for electrons to transition to higher energy states, allowing the molecule to absorb visible light of progressively longer wavelengths.

Lycopene absorbs all but the longest wavelengths of visible light, so it appears red.

Plants and photosynthetic bacteria naturally produce all-trans lycopene, but a total of 72 geometric isomers of the molecule are sterically possible.

When exposed to light or heat, lycopene can undergo isomerization to any of a number of these cis-isomers, which have a bent rather than linear shape.

SSskeletal formula of all- trans   lycopene

Different isomeres were shown to have different stabilities due to their molecular energy (highest stability: 5-cis ≥ all-trans ≥ 9-cis ≥ 13-cis > 15-cis > 7-cis > 11-cis: lowest).

Ball-and-stick model of all- trans   lycopene

In the human bloodstream, various cis-isomers constitute more than 60% of the total lycopene concentration, but the biological effects of individual isomers have not been investigated

Lycopene is insoluble in water, and can be dissolved only in organic solvents and oils.

Because of its non-polarity, lycopene in food preparations will stain any sufficiently porous material, including most plastics.

While a tomato stain can be fairly easily removed from fabric (provided the stain is fresh), lycopene diffuses into plastic, making it impossible to remove with hot water or detergent.

If lycopene is oxidized (for example, by reacting with bleaches or acids), the double bonds between the carbon atoms will be broken; cleaving the molecule, breaking the conjugated double bond system, and eliminating the chromophore.

Role In Photosynthesis

Carotenoids like lycopene are important pigments found in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes in plants, photosynthetic bacteria, fungi, and algae.

They are responsible for the bright colors of fruits and vegetables, perform various functions in photosynthesis, and protect photosynthetic organisms from excessive light damage.

Lycopene is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of many important carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, and xanthophylls.

Dietary Sources

Table Lycopene Content of Various Fruits and Vegetables*

Lycopene content

(mg/100 g)

Fruits and vegetables that are high in lycopene include gac, tomatoes, watermelon,pinkgrapefruit,pink guava, papaya, seabuckthorn, wolfberry ,androsehip.

Although gac has the highest content of lycopene of any known fruit or vegetable, up to 70 times more than tomatoes for example, due to gac's rarity outside its native region of southeast Asia, tomatoes and tomato-based sauces, juices, and ketchup account for more than 85% of the dietary intake of lycopene for most people.

 The lycopene content of tomatoes depends on species and increases as the fruit ripens.

Tomato foods 0.9-4.2

Tomatoes, raw3.7-4.4

Tomato sauce 7.3-18.0

Tomato paste 5.4-55.5

Tomato Soup (condensed) 8.0-10.9

Tomato juice 5.0-11.6

Ketchup 9.9-13.4

Apricots, fresh 0.0005

Watermelon, fresh 2.3-7.2

Papaya, fresh 2.0-5.3

Grapefruit, pink/red 0.2-3.4

Guava, raw 5.3-5.5

Vegetable juice 7.3-9.7

Unlike other fruits and vegetables, where nutritional content such as vitamin C is diminished upon cooking, processing of tomatoes increases the concentration of bioavailable lycopene.

Lycopene in tomato paste is four times more bioavailable than in fresh tomatoes. For this reason, tomato sauce is a preferable source as opposed to raw tomatoes.

While most green leafy vegetables and other sources of lycopene are low in fats and oils, lycopene is insoluble in water and is tightly bound to vegetable fiber. Processed tomato products such as pasteurized tomato juice, soup, sauce, and ketchup contain the highest concentrations of bioavailable lycopene from tomato-based sources.

Cooking and crushing tomatoes (as in the canning process) and serving in oil-rich dishes (such as spaghetti sauce

or pizza) greatly increases assimilation from the digestive tract into the bloodstream.

Lycopene is fat-soluble, so the oil is said to help absorption. Gac is a notable exception, containing high concentrations of lycopene and also saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.

Lycopene may be obtained from vegetables and fruits such as the tomato, but another source of lycopene is the fungus Blakeslea trispora. Gac is a promising commercial source of lycopene for the purposes of extraction and purification.

The cis-lycopene from some varieties of tomato is more bioavailable.

Methodology

Material

Conical flask

Beaker

Thermometer

Heating mantle

Stirrer

Shaker

Water bath

Chemical Requirements :

Sodium cholride

Sodium sulphate

Ethanol

Diethyl ether

Procedure:

5 gms of Tomato paste was weighed and placed in 100 ml round bottom flask.

10 ml of ethanol was added to it and heated on water bath for 5 mins.

This hot mixture was filtered using small funnel and flask was allowed to drain thoroughly.

The liquid out of solid residue was squeezed with spatula.

The solid residue was returned to flask and 10 ml of Diethyl ether was added and reflex for 3-4 mins.

The yellow extract was filtered and extraction was repeated two or four times with 10 ml of Diethyl ether.

The combines extract was taken and poured into separating funnel 10% Nacl

solution was added for layer.

On adding Nacl solution yellow colour layer is obtained. On passing colour solution over sodium sulaphte lycopene is obtained.

Results :