Professor Biology

Digitalis Purpurea (Foxglove)  is a  species  of flowering plant in the  genu s  Digitalis , in the  family   Scrophulariaceae ,  native  and widespread throughout most of  temperate  Europe. It is source of heart medicine called digitoxin. Due to the presence digitoxin, the leaves, flowers, and seeds are poisonous to human and animal if eaten. Digitoxin used to threating heart failure. Heart failure occurs when the heart unable to pump blood sufficiently to all body part. Digitoxin can resolve this problem caused by ability to promote heart beating. Digitoxin

Soredia are fragments of a lichen that include algal cells and fungal hyphae, they serve to disperse the lichen to new areas. It is lichen reproduction method.

Essential oil is oil excreted from plants. It also known as aetheric oil, volatile oil, or aromatic oil. Essential oil is secondary metabolit of plant used to protect its body from animal. Essential oil have low vapor point. In the room temperature it is in liquid condition and easily evaporate forming distinctive aroma.  They are used to soaps, perfumes, and cosmetics   for  flavoring  food and drink, and for adding scents to  incense  and household cleaning products. Most of essential oil did not dissolve in water and other polar solvent. As chemically, essential oil composed by many compound. Most of essetial oil including in terpenes and terpenoids and oil soluble.

Objective Hay Test is used to prove that bile acids reduce water surface tension. Base Theory Normal water have high surface tension that make difficult to forming misel in the gut, so our body secreted bile acids to reduce water surface tension. Activity of bile acids can help human body to transfer and absorb fats from food. It is possible to observe this by colloidal sulphur (sulphuric powder). Procedure Add 3 ml of water into two test tubes. To one of them add one drop of bile salt solution, next pour colloidal sulphur to both of them. Shake it once. In the tube with bile salt colloidal sulphur falls quickly, but in the other one, without bile salt, it stays on water surface.

Objective This test is used to prove the presence of bile salt. Base Theory Bile salt will reacts with hydroxymethylenephurphural to forms red solution. Hydroxymethylenephurphural is formed of sugar that dehidrated by sulphuric acid. Procedure Dissolve few crystals of saccharose in 1 ml of diluted bile salt solution. Sublayer this solution with 1 ml of concentrated H 2 SO 4  (adding sulphuric acid pouring on the wall of the tube). Red ring is formed  between both layers.

Objective Millon test is chemical test to detect the presence of Tyrosine. Base Theory Millon test is given by any compound containing a phenolic hydroxy group. Consequently, any protein containing tyrosine will give a positive test of a pink to dark-red colour. The Millon reagent is a solution of mercuric and mercurous ions in nitric and nitrous acids ( CAUTION: MILLON REAGENT IS HIGHLY TOXIC AND HIGHLY CORROSIVE ). The red colour is probably due to a mercury salt of nitrated tyrosine. Procedure Place 1 mL of casein, 2% egg albumin, and 0.1 M tyrosine into separate, labelled, 12 x 75 mm test tubes. Add 3 drops of Millon’s reagent and immerse the tubes in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Cool the tubes and record the colours formed. Positive result of Millon Test

Objective Ninhydrin reaction is chemical reaction to detect existence of amino acids. Base Theory Ninhydrin (triketohydrindene hydrate) is an oxidating agent which leads to the oxidative deamination of alpha-amino groups. It is very important for the detection and the quantitative analysis of amino acids. Ninhydrin also reacts with primary amines however the formation of carbon dioxide is quite diagnostic for amino acids. When reacting with free amines from the amino acid, blue or purple color  is produced. Most of the amino acids are hydrolyzed and reacted with ninhydrin except proline. When ninhydrin reacts with amino acids, the reaction also releases CO 2 . A ninhydrin solution is commonly used by forensic investigators in the analysis of latent fingerprints on porous surfaces such as paper. Amino acid containing fingermarks, formed by minute sweat secretions which gather on the finger’s unique ridges, are treated with the ninhydrin solution which turns the amino acid finger rid