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Hot as Capsaicin

Val Povaliaev
Mar 7, 2017
1 min read

For today's experiment, we worked on three separate samples of capsaicin, the active ingredient in peppers that is commonly used as a topical ointment on skin helping to relieve minor pain and irritation. The purpose of our experiment was to determine the absorbance and the concentration of three samples of capsaicin extract. All three were maroon, smelled like hot sauce and were sticky-oily to touch. We first diluted the concentrated extract in methanol for two of the samples as it was more hydrophillic while the last one formed micelles with 100% methanol and acetonitrile so we had to use cyclohexane as our solvent. We then measured the absorbance at 280 nm and because the HPLC was not immediately available we're going to have to wait until Friday to get our concentrations. As a result of our hard work and due to our fellow Thai colleagues finishing their rotation at the end of this week, we celebrated by having dinner and dessert. Pictured below the dessert's official name is Milo Volcano Kakigori found at a local 'After You' near you.