Isolation and Evaluation of Physicochemical of Pregelatinized Starch as Pharmaceutical Excipient: Albizia Saman

Abstract

Albizia saman seeds contain 24.2% starch which can be used as an excipient in pharmaceutical preparations. However, natural starch has unfavorable characteristics, so it needs to be modified. Pre-gelatinization is one of the physical modification methods which can improve the characteristics of natural starch. This study aimed to evaluate the physical characteristics of pregelatinized starch of Albizia saman seeds as an excipient in pharmaceutical preparations. The current research consisted of two stages. The first stage included carrying out the phytochemical screening process for Albizia saman seeds, isolating starch from Albizia saman seeds, and determining the starch content of Albizia saman seeds using the Luff Schoorl method. In the second stage, the starch from Albizia saman was physically modified (pregelatinized) using a 1:1 ratio and then evaluated. The results of the phytochemical screening confirmed that the Albizia saman seeds were positive for containing secondary metabolites of alkaloids, flavonoids, and saponins. The determination of the starch content of the Albizia saman using the Luff Schoorl method was 95%. Furthermore, pregelatinized starch of Albizia saman seeds had good characteristics as evidenced by the results of the particle size distribution (251-425 µm), moisture content (0.064%), flow rate (8.45 g/s), angle of repose (0.6°), ash content (1.89%), and compressibility index (12.4%). To sum up, the pregelatinized starch of Albizia saman seeds have good characteristics in accordance with the requirements of the Indonesian Pharmacopoeia, so it can be developed as an excipient raw material in pharmaceutical preparations.