Precipitate Solubility

Multiple times during the summer, a precipitate was observed when iron and curcumin were mixed.  During the past week the precipitate was isolated and dried on two occasions for testing.  The issue experienced in the summer remained problematic- the precipitate was not soluble in several of the common solutes that were tried.  Eventually, acid was used in an attempt to free iron from the precipitate to test if there was iron in the precipitate at all.  KSCN was added to the solution as the appearance of a red color would indicate that a FeSCN complex was being formed.

UV and HPLC were used to test the solution after it was heated with nitric acid in order to dissolve more of the precipitate.  Both UV and HPLC spectra showed the presence of the iron and curcumin complex that had previously only been confirmed in solution.

1/8/19
-Alex Griffith

Beginning of Winternship

Today, another reflux extraction of turmeric and methanol was performed in order to retest the curcumin and curcumin-iron complexes using HPLC.  A solution of curcumin and iron produced a precipitate that was filtered out and left to dry for further testing.  The filtrate was also saved.

The main problem experienced today was the malfunctions of the HPLC machine.  It is currently unclear what the issue was but no spectra could be run due to the pressure building too high and the machine subsequently shutting down.

1/2/2019
-Alex Griffith