GREEN CHEMISTRY: STUDY OF ACID-BASE INDICATOR PROPERTY OF GOLDEN BEET ROOT

In acid- base titrations, indicators are used to show a sharp color changes at interval of pH.Natural pigments in plants are highly colored substances and may show color changes with variation of pH. An attempt has been made to investigate the indicator activity of root extract of golden beet root and to replace the synthetic indicators as they have certain disadvantages like chemical pollution, availability problems and high cost. A study has been done to investigate the indicator activity of aqueous extract of root pigments and compared with that of already existing synthetic indicators. Pigments were extracted using hot water and a definite volume was added which gave accurate and reliable results for all the four different types of neutralization titrations - strong acid against strong base, strong acid against a weak base, weak acid against strong base and weak acid against weak base. The work proved to be acceptable in introducing root pigments as a substitute to the synthetic acid-base indicators.