Extraction and Evaluation of some Phytochemcial and Physicochemical properties of Hibiscus rosasinensis mucilage

 

Sanjib Bahadur¹*, Amit Roy¹, Ranabir Chanda², Pragya Baghel¹, Suman Saha¹,  Ananta Choudhury¹

¹Columbia Institute of Pharmacy, Village Tekari, Near Vidhan Sabha, Raipur (CG), India

²Bengal School of Technology, Sugandha, Delhi Road, Hooghly, (W.B) India

*Corresponding Author E-mail: sanjib_pharmacist@yahoo.co.in

 

ABSTRACT:

Hibiscus rosasinensis (HR) is a shrub belonging to Malvaceae. The leaves of ethanolic extract of HR exhibited antidiabetic activity. Mucilage is present in leaves of HR. The objective of this research is to extract and evaluate the mucilage of HR. Leaves were collected and slurry was prepared which was precipitated using ethanol. The precipitates were separated and dried. The dried mucilage was subjected to various phytochemical and physicochemical tests. The extracted mucilage shows the presence of carbohydrates, reducing sugar and mucilage whereas glycoside, alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids and tannins was absent. The moisture sorption test reveals that the mucilage can sorbed moisture and has ability of swelling in water as shown by result of swelling index test. Other physicochemical studies indicate that the mucilage has properties to be used as excipient. FTIR spectrum shows the presence of various functional groups and bonds it possesses.  It can be concluded that the mucilage can be used to prepare dosage form. However, as it can absorb moisture, the prepared dosage form should be packed suitably to avoid the contact of moisture.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Excipients are any substances included in the manufacturing process or in a final product other than drug or prodrug, as defined by International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council (1). These excipients used in a particular dosage form can control or alter the physicochemical properties of drugs and leads to alteration in therapeutic activity (2).

 

Excipients can be obtained from synthetic or natural sources. Synthetic excipients have many demerits like toxicity, non biodegradable, expensive and their synthesis cause environmental pollution. Natural excipients have many advantages like economical, biocompatible, and readily available(3). Gums are pathological products formed by injuring the plant or by breakage of cell walls. Mucilages are metabolic products formed by intracellular metabolic processes(4). In recent years, interest in utilizing gums and mucilage of natural sources has gained tremendously. Hibiscus rosasinesis (HR) belongs to Family Malvaceae and is commonly known as china rose. The roots are demulcent. Leaves and flowers have anti ulcer activity and reported to promote growth and colour of hair(5). Leaf extract of HR is reported to have antidiabetic activity(6). The aim of this research work is to extract and evaluate mucilage from leaves of HR and check its suitability to be used as pharmaceutical excipient.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The leaves of HR were collected locally. Ethanol was procured from SD Fine Ltd., India. All other chemicals were of analytical grade.

 

Extraction of mucilage

HR leaves was collected and washed with double distilled water to remove any adherent material. The leaf was grinded with small amount of water using mixer grinder to form slurry. The slurry thus prepared was precipitated in about three times its volume of ethanol with continuous stirring with mechanical stirrer. The precipitate was washed for three times with ethanol and dried at 40±1°C. The dried material was ground by a mechanical grinder and passed through # 60 mesh sieve and kept in a desiccator till further use

 

Phytochemical Examination

The extracted mucilage was subjected to phytochemical examination. Presence of carbohydrate, protein, saponins, tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids were qualitatively determined.

 

Physicochemical Characterization

i.     Solubility test: Solubility of extracted mucilage was determined in water, ethanol, acetone, and chloroform as per Indian Pharmacopoeia.

ii.    Loss on drying: 10g mucilage was weighed and dried at 105°C until constant weight of sample was obtained. Loss on drying was calculated.

iii.  pH: pH of mucilage solution (5%w/v) was determined was using pH meter.

iv.  Angle of repose: Angle of repose was determined by funnel method(7)

v.    Bulk and tap density: Bulk and tapped density was determined as per reference (7)

vi.  Hausner ratio: Hausner ratio was calculated by using the following formula

 

 

 

vii. Compressibility index: Compressibility was calculated by

viii.            

 

 

ix.  % Yield: This was calculated by using the formula

 

 

 

Swelling properties

5 g of mucilage was placed in 50 ml cylinder. 20 ml of distilled water was added and the content was vigorously shaken for 15 minutes and then the solution was allowed to stand for 5 hours without any disturbance. The test was performed in triplicate and swelling index was calculated using the following formulation 

 

 

 

Where, V_f= Final volume occupied by mucilage, V₀= Initial Volume of the mucilage

 

Moisture sorption studies

2 g of mucilage was taken in petridish and placed in dessicator containing distilled water in its reservoir for 5 days. The sample was weighed daily and increase in weight, indicates the amount of water sorbed, was calculated.

 

Viscosity

Solution of different concentration of mucilage (2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10% w/v) was prepared by using distilled water. The solutions were kept overnight at room temperature. Viscosity of the solution was then measured using Brookfield Viscometer (Brookfield, USA) using spindle 4 at shear rate of 20 rpm.

 

Fourier transform-infra red (FTIR)

The infra – red spectrum of the mucilage was recorded using FTIR (IR – Affinity, Shimadzu, Japan). Mucilage was compressed with potassium bromide and transformed into disk. Disk was applied to the centre of the sample holding device and scanned between 4000 – 400 cm ^{– 1} at a resolution of 4 cm ^{– 1}.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Mucilages are polysaccharides hydrocolloids and are found commonly in many higher plants. These polysaccharides are responsible for reducing the release of drug from dosage form (8). Mucilage from HR was extracted by forming aqueous dispersion of slurry of leaves and precipitating it with ethanol. The yield was found to be 18.9%. The precipitated mucilage was subjected to various phytochemical and physicochemical tests. The mucilage shows the presence of carbohydrates, reducing sugar and confirms the presence of mucilage, whereas alkaloids, steroids, glycosides, tannins were absent.

 

The mucilage was found to be soluble in distilled water. Low moisture content suggests that the mucilage is suitable to be used in formulations containing moisture sensitive drugs. Angle of repose compressibility suggests that mucilage has good flow properties with moderate compressibility. Bulk and tapped densities gives an indication about the packing and arrangement of particles and the compaction. The swelling index of mucilage shows that it can absorb water (Table 1). Moisture sorption by the mucilage is shown in figure 1 which shows that the mucilage absorbed substantial amount of moisture over the period of 5 days. The viscosity of mucilage was found to be dependent on concentration. Viscosity of the mucilage solution was found to be increasing with the concentration of solution (figure 2).

 

FTIR spectrum was recorded (figure 3) and the mucilage shows characteristic peaks at 1029.99, 1149.57, 1246.02, 1319.31, 1373.32, 1392.61, 1419.61, 1519.91, 1631.78,  suggesting the presence of C-H bend, C-O bend, C-H rock, Amide, Alkyne, Ketone, Carboxylic acid.

 

Table 1: Phytochemcial Tests and Physicochemical properties of Mucilage

 

     

Figure 1: Amount of moisture sorbed by mucilage                               Figure 2: Effect on viscosity with increase in concentration of mucilage

(Moisture sorption test) 

 

 

Figure 3: FTIR spectrum of extracted mucilage from leaves of HR

 

 

CONCLUSION:

The aim of this research work was to conduct phytochemical and physicochemical characterization of the extracted HR mucilage. Phytochemical and physicochemical evaluation suggests that the mucilage can be used to formulate dosage form.

 

REFERENCE:

1.     Bahadur S, Roy A, Chanda R, Choudhury A, Das S, Saha S, et al. Natural Excipient Develeopment: Need and Future. Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research. 2014; 4(1): p. 12 - 15.

2.     Mahmud HS, Oyi AR, Allagh TS. Studies on some physicochemcial properties of Khaya senegalensis gum. Nigerian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2008; 7(1): p. 146-152.

3.     Malviya R, Srivastava P, Kulkarni GT. Applications of mucilages in drug delivery - A review. Advances in Biological Research. 2011; 5(1): p. 1 - 7.

4.     Choudhary PD, Pawar HA. Recently investigated natural gums and mucilages as pharmaceutical excipients: An overview. Journal of Pharmaceutics. 2014; 2014: p. 1 - 9.

5.     Sankaran M, Vadivel A. Antioxidant and Antidiabetic Effect of Hibiscus rosasinensis Flower Extract on Streptozotocin Induced Experimental Rats a Dose Response Study. Notulae Scientia Biologicae. 2011; 3(4): p. 13-21.

6.     Moqbel FS, Naik RP, Habeeb NM, S S. Antidiabetic properties of Hibiscus rosasinensis L. leaf extract fractions on non obese diabetic (NOD) mouse. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. 2011; 49: p. 24-29.

7.     Sinko PJ, Singh Y, editors. Martin's Physical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Lippoincott Williams and Wilkins; 2011.

8.     Avachat AM, Dash RR, Shrotriya SN. Recent investigations of plant based natural gums, mucilages and resins in novel drug dleivery systems. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and Research. 2011; 45(1): p. 86-99.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Received on 04.04.2016       Modified on 16.06.2016

Accepted on 07.07.2016      ©A&V Publications All right reserved