Summary Sheet

Numerous simple tests can be conducted which can indicate the

presence or absence of various Biological molecules within a
sample.

-Food Tests.
They only identify if the sample is present, not how much of it, and
thus are known as Qualitative tests.
All the tests rely on the biological molecules going into solution.

Starch
-Add iodine which is dissolved in potassium iodide solution to
the sample of food.

Present: sample turns blue/black

Absent: Stays orange/brown

Reducing Sugars
Reducing Sugars include all monosaccharides (eg Glucose)
and some disaccharides (eg Maltose)

-Add Benedictʼs Reagent to the sample and heat it but

ensure it is not allowed to boil
-If the test is positive, and the reducing sugars are present,
the solution will change from blue to an orange/red
precipitate (solid particles suspended in the solution)
-The higher the concentration of reducing sugar, the further
the change from blue to red.

Non-Reducing Sugars
To test for Non-Reducing Sugars you need to first break
them down into monosaccharides.

-Boil the test solution with dilute Hydrochloric Acid

-Neutralise the solution with Sodium Hydrogencarbonate.
-Carry out the Benedictʼs Test (described above)
-If the test is positive the sugar could be reducing or non-
reducing. To check if it is non-reducing you must also do the
reducing sugars test and rule out the possibility it is a
reducing sugar.

Biuret Test Emulsion Test

This process tests to see if there This test determines whether or
are proteins in a sample. not Lipids are present in a
There are two stages to this sample.
test:
-Shake the test substance with
-The test solution needs to be Ethanol for about a minute and
alkaline, so first you add a few then pour the solution into water
drops of sodium hydroxide
solution. Present: Solution turns milky
-You then add some copper(II) (more Lipid present will make
sulfate solution. the milky colour more
Present: Purple layer forms. noticeable)
Absent: Stays a pale Blue. Absent: Solution stays clear.