Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Mar 19;13(3):1519-47.
doi: 10.3390/md13031519.

Chitin and chitosan as direct compression excipients in pharmaceutical applications

Adnan A Badwan  1 , Iyad Rashid  2 , Mahmoud M H Al Omari  3 , Fouad H Darras  4
Affiliations
Review

Chitin and chitosan as direct compression excipients in pharmaceutical applications

Adnan A Badwan et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

Despite the numerous uses of chitin and chitosan as new functional materials of high potential in various fields, they are still behind several directly compressible excipients already dominating pharmaceutical applications. There are, however, new attempts to exploit chitin and chitosan in co-processing techniques that provide a product with potential to act as a direct compression (DC) excipient. This review outlines the compression properties of chitin and chitosan in the context of DC pharmaceutical applications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of cellulose (R = OH), chitin (R = NHCOCH3), and chitosan (R = NH2).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bulk and tapped densities of chitin and chitosan in comparison with other common filler-binder excipients. Data were obtained from Mir et al. [46], Rojas et al. [52], and Sonnekus [53].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Carr Index (CI) of chitosan and some common direct compression excipients. Data were obtained from García Mir et al. [46], Rojas et al. [52], and Sonnekus [53].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Tensile strength of chitin and some common direct compression excipients. Data were obtained from Rojas et al. [52,69].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Tensile strength (MPa) and disintegration time (min) of chitin and chitosan with different molecular weights. Data were obtained from Rege et al. [42].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of compression pressure on the tensile strength of tablets using chitosan samples of different molecular weights. Data were obtained from Rashid et al. [6].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Lubricant sensitivity of chitin and common excipients in the presence of different lubricant types. Data were obtained from Rojas et al. [52,69].
Figure 8
Figure 8
(A) Tensile strength and plasticity factor (PF) and (B) elasticity factor (EF) for chitin, microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel® PH 102), and co-processed spray dried lactose (Cellactose®) as a function of moisture content. Data were obtained from Khan and Pilpel [71], and García Mir et al. [78].
Figure 9
Figure 9
The effect of chitosan content on the plasticity of a chitosan–xanthan mixture. Data were obtained from Eftaiha et al. [107].
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effect of chitosan content on powder and tablet characteristics of spray-dried mixtures of chitosan and hydrolyzed gelatin. Data were obtained from Kokil et al. [118].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gohel M.C., Jogani P.D. A review of co-processed directly compressible excipients. J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci. 2005;8:76–93. - PubMed
    1. Michoel A., Rombaut P., Verhoye A. Comparative evaluation of co-processed lactose and microcrystalline cellulose with their physical mixtures in the formulation of folic acid tablets. Pharm. Dev. Technol. 2002;7:79–87. doi: 10.1081/PDT-120002233. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bindhumadhavan G., Seville J.P.K., Adams M.J., Greenwood R.W., Fitzpatrick S. Roll compaction of a pharmaceutical excipient: Experimental validation of rolling theory for granular solids. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2005;60:3891–3897. doi: 10.1016/j.ces.2005.02.022. - DOI
    1. Pingali K., Mendez R., Lewis D., Michniak-Kohn B., Cuitino A., Muzzio F. Mixing order of glidant and lubricant—Influence on powder and tablet properties. Int. J. Pharm. 2011;409:269–277. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2011.02.032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Haware R.V., Tho I., Bauer-Brandl A. Evaluation of a rapid approximation method for the elastic recovery of tablets. Powder Technol. 2010;202:71–77. doi: 10.1016/j.powtec.2010.04.012. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources