Abstract
Objective: The present work aims to compare powder flow properties and post-compression characteristics of acid hydrolysis nanocellulose (AH-NC) a novel excipient with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC PH200) to demonstrate the application and performance of AH-NC.
 Methods: I-optimal design was applied separately for both the excipient, i.e., MCC PH200 and AH-NC. Independent variables were MCC PH200 as diluent (X1), AH-NC as diluent (X1), starch as disintegrant (X2), and PVP K30 as dry binder (X3). The dependent variables in design were Carr’s index (CI) (R1), angle of repose (AR) (R2), hardness (R3), friability (R4), disintegration time (DT) (R5), and T90 (R6).
 Results: Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry studies showed the compatibility of the drug with an excipient. CI was found in the range of 8%–17.84% for MCC PH200 and 5.25%–11.94% for AH-NC. AR was found in the range of 31.48–37.66 for MCC PH200 and 29.62–35.30 for AH-NC. The values of friability, DT, and T90 were almost identical in both the cases.
 Conclusion: Not only does AH-NC demonstrates better flow properties but also problems of weight variation and content uniformity are not observed when compared to MCC PH200. Hence, AH-NC is more suitable as an excipient for modern high-speed rotary tablet press.
Highlights
The production of nanocellulose (NC) and their application in different areas has gained increasing attention recently due to their low density, high surface area to volume ratio, higher Young’s modulus, higher tensile strength, thermal stability, and biodegradable nature [1]
Characteristic peak of GLB was observed at 175.22°C in a physical mixture containing microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) PH200, whereas peak of a mixture containing acid hydrolysed (AH)-NC was observed at 175.23°C
Good quality tablets are dependent on attributes of diluents as they are used in the formulation to increase the bulk of formulations and to bind other inactive ingredients with the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)
Summary
The production of nanocellulose (NC) and their application in different areas has gained increasing attention recently due to their low density, high surface area to volume ratio, higher Young’s modulus, higher tensile strength, thermal stability, and biodegradable nature [1]. Application of NC as a nanocomposite has been studied [5,6,7,8]. Application of NC in the pharmaceutical field has not been reported so far which basically is the objective of this study – to evaluate the usability of NC as novel tableting excipient produced by processing corn husk an agricultural waste, through AH. AH-NC was compared to commercially available grades of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC): Avicel PH 200. Avicel PH 200 is the most common grade of MCC used in tableting. Design Expert® Version 12 was used for the data treatment of I-optimal design to ensure optimum use of time and cost to obtain a high quality of powder flow property using direct compression [12,13]
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