Effect of Two Surfactants and Mode of Incorporation on the Compaction Characteristics of the Hot Water Leaf Extract of<i>Ficus sur</i>

Abstract

Abstract The hot water leaf extract of Ficus surhas been found to have antiulcer activity. Earlier formulation studies have investigated its tabletting properties. Surfactants are added to tablet formulations to increase the rate of drug release. This study was designed to determine the effects of two different surfactants-sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and Tween 40 (T40) and their mode of incorporation on the compaction characteristics of the granules of the hot water leaf extract. Granules treated with T40 were generally more resistant to deformation than the SLS-treated granules. The extra-granular addition of SLS increased the rate of deformation, which was predominantly plastic in nature while T40 had the opposite effect. For this mode of incorporation, the concentration of surfactant affected the deformation pattern with Type A at 0.1%, Type C at 0.3%, and Type B at 0.5%. The addition of SLS to the disintegrant before granulation also resulted in increased rate of type B, the extract had decreased deformation with higher compaction pressures. On the other hand, T40 decreased the rate of deformation up to 0.3%. At a higher concentration of 0.5% the type B pattern was changed to the one that could not be explained with the Heckel equation. The addition of SLS to the binder solution before granulation produced granules that exhibited plastic deformation. However at 0.5% SLS, a linear relationship was obtained at all the applied pressures. This is similar to that obtained with 0.1% T40 while the effect of T40 at 0.3% and 0.5% could not be explained by the Heckel equation.