Deacetylation of glucomannan of Amorphophallus oncophillus using NaOH and its properties as iron excipient by gelation in ethanol

Abstract

Iron encapsulation maximizes the absorption as well as protection the iron from inhibitor and oxidation. The proper excipient is required to be carefully selected to achieve these aims. Encapsulation using gelation method needs a matrix with gel-forming ability. Glucomannan has been studied as an excipient for various substances due to the desired characteristics to form strong, elastic, and stable. The glucomannan gel-forming ability is determined by the presence of acetyl groups in its chain, which prevent the long chains from binding to each other. Deacetylation increase the gel-forming ability of glucomannan. This work aimed to determine the deacetylation of glucomannan of Amorphophallus oncophillus using NaOH. This modified compound was used as encapsulant of iron using the gelation method in ethanol. Deacetylated glucomannan using a higher concentration of alkaline solution has a higher degree of deacetylation, lower viscosity, and non-linear solubility. Increasing glucomannan weight in deacetylation process raises the degree of deacetylation, viscosity, and solubility of deacetylated glucomannan. The deacetylation process improves iron encapsulation performance using glucomannan by 61.92% and eases the iron release evaluated by in-vitro test.