Do you know the secret of turmeric?

Yes, the turmeric basically being used in every dish for colour (yellow) and smell . Without its presence the food is not satisfying for our eyes. 

Chemical background

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is used as spice, preservative, colouring matter and has wide range of medicinal and pharmacological applications. It exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-HIV, anti-bacterial, antioxidant, nematocidal, antiparasitic, antispasmodic and anticarcinogenic activities. It is a potent scavenger of a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen, peroxynitrite and nitric oxide. It is a inhibitor of ROS generating enzymes, cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase and plays active role in the inhibition of COX-I and COX-II enzymes that are involved in the inflammatory reaction. The turmeric extract protects lipids, haemoglobin, and red blood cells from lipid peroxidation induced by hydrogen peroxide.  

Did you ever notice the turmeric also behave like indicator as we use phenolphthalein, methyl orange, litmus paper and so on to identify whether substance is acidic, basic or neutral by their change in colour. Termeric powder has its own property that, when it is kept contact with basic subsistences in aqueous form the original yellow colour changes to pink red.   As we make the solution of turmeric powder and mixed it with some sodium hydroxide solution the colour change occured. Also we experimented on both strong and weak base from potassium hydroxide to ash. Though it couldn't be use for acidmetry but efficient to know whether the substance is acidic or basic by its colour change.

In case of acid ,it doesn't respond physically so there is no change in colour with acids.

Since turmeric is only an indicator for base.

For any suggestions leave a comment below.