Abstract

The objective of the present study was to develop a tablet formulation of embelin employing the wet granulation and direct compression techniques. This study was also carried out to design a suitable dissolution medium for embelin. Effect of different diluents like lactose, microcrystalline cellulose, and co-crystallized lactose-microcrystalline cellulose were studied for improving the flow and compressibility. Binders such as starch paste and alcoholic polyvinyl pyrrolidone were used to optimize the crushing strength of the formulation. Dried starch powder was used as a disintegrating agent in both techniques. Pre and post formulation parameters were studied for all the batches. Co-crystallized lactose-microcrystalline cellulose and alcoholic polyvinyl pyrrolidone proved to be the best diluent and binder respectively. Solubility study of embelin in different media revealed that embelin has optimum solubility in phosphate buffer of pH 8 and in 2% aqueous sodium lauryl sulfate solution. Incorporation of 10% v/v ethanol in phosphate buffer of pH 7.4, significantly increased the solubility of embelin. These solutions were also found to be the most suitable media for dissolution of embelin in dissolution studies.