Quantitative Analysis of Caffeine by Percent Degradation Assay and Iodometric Titration

Caffeine, a methyl xanthine molecule which is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world over, most commonly from the beverages coffee, tea and soda. Caffeine is naturally present in different varieties of plants, tea leaves, cocoa beans etc. It acts as stimulant to central nervous system and has various negative withdrawal effects on health. Caffeine can be treated chemically as well as biologically. Biodegradation by bacteria is considered to be the most efficient technique in degrading caffeine within environment. In the present study, four isolates capable of utilizing caffeine as a sole source of carbon were isolated from garden soil. The bacteria were characterized by conventional morphological and biochemical test. To quantify the amount of biodegradation, percent degradation assay was performed in which Isolate 1 and Isolate 4 shows maximum degradation of caffeine. Isolate-1 shows 98, Isolate- 2 shows 88.63, Isolate-3 shows 95.45 and Isolate-4 shows 95.45 after 48 hours of incubation. Iodometric back titration was performed to measure the remaining concentration of caffeine in broth.