Analysis of activities of some starch disintegrants in paracetamol tablets by application of a factorial experimental design

Abstract

The effects of the nature of disintegrant (N), its concentration(C) and its type (T) on the disintegrant properties - crushing strength (Cs), friability (Fr) and disintegration time (Dt) - of paracetamol tablets formulated with starch disintegrants from white and yellow trifoliate yam varieties (Dioscorea dumetorum Pax) and rice (Oryza sativa, Linn) were studied comparatively with those containing official corn starch by the application of statistical principles based on a 23 experimental design. Generally, for all the starch disintegrants, the ranking for the individual effects on Cs, Fr and Dt were N>C>T, N>C>T and C>F>T, respectively. The general ranking for the interactions would appear to be N-C > C-T > N-T. From these, it may be inferred that the concentration of disintegrant, C which is apparently involved in the two largest groups of interaction is generally the most important in influencing the effects of the variables on the disintegration properties of the various starches since it would influence the effects of the two other variables considerably. These findings can be useful in manipulating the variables to obtain desired disintegration properties for formulated paracetamol tablets.