Effects of Natural and Pregelantinized Sorghum, Plantain, and Corn Starch Binders on the Compression

Starch is a multipurpose excipient in tablet formulations.
It can be used as a binder, disintegrant, and filler. Natural
starches also have been pregelatinized to increase
their cold-water swellability and increase their flowability
(1). Pregelatinization can be carried out by thermal methods
(2). Although some research has been carried out on the
compressional characteristics of natural starches (3,4), little or
no research appears to have been conducted on the effect of
pregelatinization on the compressional characteristics of starches
in relation to their usefulness in tablet formulations.
Sorghum and plantain starches obtained from Sorghum bicolor
L. (poaceae) and Musa paradisiaca L. (musaceae), respectively,
have been investigated as binders and disintegrants in
tablet formulations (5,6). However, it appears that no attempt
has been made to study the effects of these starches in either
natural or pregelatinized forms on the compressional characteristics
of tablet formulations.
In the present work, a study has been made of the effects of
natural and pregelatinized sorghum and plantain starch binderson the compressional characteristics of a paracetamol tablet
formulation in comparison with official corn starch BP using
density measurements and the Heckel and Kawakita equations
for the analysis of the compression data (7,8).

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