Abstract
The microcrystalline cellulose is an important ingredient in pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and other industries. In this study, the microcrystalline cellulose, obtained from the stalk of Sorghum caudatum was evaluated for its physical and tableting characteristics with a view to assessing its usefulness in pharmaceutical tableting. The microcrystalline cellulose, obtained from the stalk of Sorghum caudatum, obtained by sodium hydroxide delignification followed by sodium hypochlorite bleaching and acid hydrolysis was examined for its physicochemical and tableting properties in comparison with those of the well-known commercial microcrystalline cellulose grade, Avicel PH 101. The extraction yield of this microcrystalline cellulose, obtained from the stalk of Sorghum caudatum was approximately 19%. The cellulose material was composed of irregularly shaped fibrous cellulose particles and had a moisture content of 6.2% and total ash of 0.28%. The true density was 1.46. The flow indices showed that the microcrystalline cellulose, obtained from the stalk of Sorghum caudatum flowed poorly. The hydration, swelling and moisture sorption capacities were 3.9, 85 and 24%, respectively. Tablets resulting from these cellulose materials were found to be without surface defects, sufficiently hard and having disintegration time within 15 min. The study revealed that the microcrystalline cellulose, obtained from the stalk of Sorghum caudatum compares favourably with Avicel PH 101 and conformed to official requirement specified in the British Pharmacopoeia 1993 for microcrystalline cellulose.
Highlights
The microcrystalline cellulose is an important ingredient in pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and other industries
This work reports on the preparation, characterisation and tableting properties of a grade of microcrystalline cellulose, coded SC-Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), prepared from α-cellulose content of the stalks of S. caudatum
The powder properties of SC-MCC and Avicel PH 101 are presented in Table 3 while the results of particle size analysis of SC-MCC powder is as shown in fig
Summary
All chemicals used other than noted were of analytical grade. Water was double distilled. PH determination was carried out by shaking 2 g of the powder material with 100 ml of distilled water for 5 min. The true density, Dt of cellulose powders were determined by the liquid displacement method using xylene as the immersion fluid[6] and computed according to the following Eqn, Dt= w/ [(a+w)-b]×SG .. Swelling capacity was measured at the same time as the hydration capacity determination using the method reported earlier[7] and calculated as follows: S= (V2–V1)/V1×100... The samples were placed in a large desiccator containing distilled water in its reservoir (RH = 100%) at room temperature and the weight gained by the exposed samples at the end of a fiveday period was noted. Preparation of tablets: SC-MCC and Avicel PH 101 compacts, each weighing 300 mg, were produced by compressing the powder for 1 min. The materials were mixed in a bottle for 5 min. in each batch after which the resulting blend was compressed
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