ABSTRACT
Curcuma longa is a ginger plant belonging to the family of zingiberaceae. The methanol Extract of the Dye contains a colourful condiment with a pH range of 8 to 9, percentage yield of 15.2, Thin-layer chromatographic analysis of Rf(methanol) gave 0.83. The ultra-violet visible (UV) spectra showed absorption of 480nm corresponding to the region of dyes and Infra-red (IR) spectra showed intense peaks at 3423.8, 2961.7, 1739.5 and 1380.9. While the Basella alba commonly called Indian Spinach is a vegetable plant that belongs to the family of Basellaceae. The pH range gave 7.5 to 9, percentage yield 9.5 and T.L.C analysis of the Dye gave Rf(methanol) value of 0.46. The ultra-violet visible (UV) gave 540nm and Infra-red (IR) 1636.2, 2372, 3441.9, and 3794.6 peaks. The two methanol dye-extracts, gave yellow and purple for curcuma longa and Basella alba respectively. The indicator properties of the extracted dyes were studied using methyl orange as a reference. It was observed that the titrimetric end-points obtained from the dyes though varied slightly, compared reasonably with those of methyl orange. They are strongly recommended as alternatives to methyl orange during titrimetric analysis because of easy availability, inertness tendency and less costly to prepare.
Keywords: Methyl Orange, Curcuma longa, Dyes, Basella alba, Indian Spinach.