title: Chitin's Functionality as a Novel Disintegrant: Benchmarking Against Commonly Used Disintegrants in Different Physicochemical Environments.
abstract: Disintegrants are used as excipients to ensure rapid disintegration of pharmaceutical tablets and further ensure proper dissolution of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. This study investigates disintegration mechanisms of chitin and common disintegrants. Swelling assessment (swelling force and swelling ratio) in different media, and compaction behavior (pure or mixed with other excipients) tabletability, deformation (Heckel modeling), and compact disintegration times were investigated on the tested disintegrants (alginic acid calcium salt, crospovidone, sodium starch glycolate, croscarmellose sodium, and chitin). Results show that the physicochemical properties of the disintegration medium such as pH and ionic strength, as well as other formulation ingredients, affect the disintegrant functionalities. Heckel analysis using the mean yield pressure "Py" shows that alginic acid calcium salt is the most brittle among the studied disintegrants, while crospovidone has the most plastic deformation mechanism, followed by chitin. Chitin showed good tabletability and disintegration properties that were not influenced by the physicochemical formulation environment. Chitin is largely available and easily modifiable and thus a promising material that could be used as a multifunctional excipient in tablet formulation.
authors.affiliation: Ecole Doctorale des Sciences et Technologie (EDST), Laboratoire de Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles et Produits de Santé (VRNPS), Université Libanaise, Beirut, Lebanon; Institut Charles Gerhardt, UMR 5253, Equipe MACS, UFR Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: mohammadchaheen@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaheen
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Gerhardt, UMR 5253, Equipe MACS, UFR Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Soulairol
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Gerhardt, UMR 5253, Equipe MACS, UFR Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bataille
authors.affiliation: Ecole Doctorale des Sciences et Technologie (EDST), Laboratoire de Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles et Produits de Santé (VRNPS), Université Libanaise, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yassine
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Gerhardt, UMR 5253, Equipe MACS, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belamie
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Gerhardt, UMR 5253, Equipe MACS, UFR Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Tahmer
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sharkawi
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D002686:Chitin / Q000737:chemistry*; D019245:Compressive Strength; D005079:Excipients / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011208:Powders; D012995:Solubility; D013607:Tablets
chemical_list: D005079:Excipients; D011208:Powders; D013607:Tablets; D002686:Chitin
keywords: Heckel modeling; chitin; disintegrant; disintegration; excipient functionality; swelling