Introduction for a Chemistry Essay

The average University student has many tasks to accomplish and much studying to do while combating the onslaught of sleep. Students at the University of the West Indies Mona are no different and recommended amongst themselves a highly rated and popular health supplement â€Å"Yeast-Vite† [8]. Yeast-Vite is a health supplement pill which helps people fight fatigue and improve alertness. The active ingredients in Yeast-Vite are caffeine, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3. The other ingredients are: dried yeast, lactose, powdered cloves, colouring E124, E104, E132, colloidal anhydrous silica, maize starch, and microcrystalline cellulose. [1] Yeast-Vite is a good energy supplier when taken according to the directions. The Manufacturer recommends taking 12 pills in a day [1] to eliminate fatigue and improve concentration. The â€Å"alert† effect can be attributed to Caffeine, a major compound that has been proven to stimulate the central nervous system, heart, muscles, and blood pressure control centres [2]. Each pill contains 50mg of Caffeine according to the label created by the manufacturer. The following structure represents that of caffeine. Though effective, research has shown that the intake of more than 300mg of Caffeine on a daily basis is harmful to the body. Symptoms such as caffeinism, insomnia, irritability, palpitations, Nervous symptoms, upset stomach etc. are experienced and consuming more than 500mg may cause death.[3] Theoretically, the recommended dosage of Yeast-Vite tablets daily can create such harm, since the suggested daily dosage of up to 12 tablets[1] adds up to 600mg –if caffeine content of 50mg per tablet holds true. A problem exists. The recommended daily dosage of Yeast-Vite contained too much caffeine for the human body. It was hypothesized that the caffeine concentration in Yeast-Vite pills could cause negative health effects and that the manufacturer’s idea of the caffeine content may be inaccurate. Three analytical chemistry students decided to test the hypothesis, and over a four week period, conducted the determination of the caffeine content of Yeast-Vite pills using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The researchers expected the actual caffeine content of pills to be 10mg more/less than 50mg of caffeine and also that Vitamins B1, B2 and B3 could cause significant interference. The analysis was conducted entirely as a group by dissolving pills in water, preparing calibration standards, and determining the concentration of caffeine in the pills via external calibration and standard addition (single spike). High performance liquid chromatography was chosen as the analytical method because caffeine did not fit the criteria for analysis by Gas Chromatography and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy i.e. caffeine’s volatility was negligible and it had no metal ions.