Molecular Spectroscopic Analysis of Daucus carota Plant Pigment Extracts
N. M. Uzoekwe *
Department of Basic Sciences, Benson Idahosa University, Ugbor, GRA, Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria.
S. A. Uzoekwe
Department of Chemistry, Federal University Otuoeke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Various solvents (distilled water, methanol, ethanol, acetone and chloroform) extracts of Daucus carota were scanned with UV – Visible spectrophotometer (Thermo - spectronic) and Perkin – Elmer FT – IR model (Spectrum BX) infra – red spectrometer. All the extracts though with different pH showed typical orange colour with more polar solvent (H2O) giving the lighter hue. The UV – Visible spectra analyses of the extracts revealed a good absorption between 202 – 452 nm and λmax range of 272 – 340 nm. The IR spectrometry revealed various functional groups such as alcohol, arenes, alkanes and particularly, the conjugated dienes. These functional groups obviously are attributable to the structural chemistry of the Daucus carota plant pigment.
Keywords: Molecular spectroscopy, pigment, UV- visible, spectra