Phytochemical Studies And Antimicrobial Properties Of Methanolic And Aqueous Extracts Of Lemon Grass Leaves ( Cymbopogon Citratus )

Abstract

Binders, disintegrants and compression pressures play important roles in producing good tablets. The interactions between these three factors were analyzed to observe how they contribute to tablet properties. The concentration levels of the factors were determined using 2 3 factorial study designs by wet granulation method of tableting. The binder and disintegrant levels were used in narrow differences at 2 % w/w & 4 % w/w and 5 % w/w & 10 % w/w respectively. While for wide differences, 1 % w/w & 5 % w/w 5 % w/w & 20 % w/w respectively. Compression pressure was used at 8.0 MT & 9.5 MT for narrow and wide levels respectively. For each tablet property determined, interaction by two of the factors was calculated by finding the differences between the mean of four combinations in which the two factors occur as both “high” or “low” levels together from the mean of the remaining four combinations in which the two factors occur in combination of “high” and “low” levels. A student t-test was then used to calculate the significance of such interactions. The results show that at narrow differences in levels of factors, compression pressure determined good tablet properties, but as the differences widens, binder action dominates. Enlarging the differences between the factors also showed the increasing influence of disintegrant action for good table properties with increasing concentration levels. In all the batches however, none showed any significant interactions among the factors. Therefore, the levels of tablet factors, binder, disintegrant and compression pressure shows interactions on tablet friability, hardness and disintegration time by both being additive or opposing and their effects depend on the differences in the levels of the factors in the formulation.  Keywords: Binder, disintegrant, compression pressure, tablet, interaction