A Comprehensive Study on Fast Dispersible and Slow‑Releasing Characteristic of Orange Peel Pectin in Relation to Established Synthetic Polymer

Introduction: In the present work, the method to extract, isolate, and characterize orange peel pectin using soxhlation, and thereafter, the use of this polymer–polymer in the formulation of fast dispersable and slow‑releasing tablet has been studied. Thereafter, the evaluation and comparison of fast dispersible/slow‑releasing tablets using orange peel pectin versus prepared using sodium starch glycolate (SSG) were carried out. Materials and Methods: In the present investigation, extraction methodology was employed for isolation of pectin from orange peels. Four different batches with each polymer were prepared with varying concentration of superdisintegrant and bulking agent using diclofenac sodium as model drug. Diclofenac sodium stands as easily available, cheap, and good candidate to demonstrate disintegrant property. The formulation involved wet granulation method for the preparation of tablets of each batch. The tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, thickness, wetting time, deaggregation time, and in vitro release characteristic data. Results: It was observed that parameters for batch O2* were comparable with that of synthetic superdisintegrant. This batch gave around 92.12% drug release in period of 90 min. The study showed that orange peel pectin could be a potential candidate for formulation of orodispersible dosage forms in competence to SSG, which is established superdisintegrant. Conclusion: The results led to the conclusion that the use of natural polymers in formulation of pharmaceutical dosage form can be put into practice on industrial scale meeting the similar requirements as done by synthetic polymers.