Isolation and Characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose Derived from Plants as Excipient in Tablet : A Review

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a versatile and frequently used material in different industries such as pharmaceutals production, medical, cosmetics and food industry. It is inert, economic, compatibility, compatibility, non-toxicity, biodegradability, good mechanical properties, high surface area, variety and availability of different grades and biocompatibility has made it very popular. A number of research has been done on MCC to isolate it from different plant sources that are economical and eco-friendly. MCC is extracted from α cellulose that is abundant in nature as most of MCC is produced from wood. However, new eco-friendly sources with changes in methods of isolation have been applied for the production of MCC. In this review MCC isolated from different plant-based resources, extraction process parameters, origin of raw material and its influence on critical material attributes of MCC has been outlined and discussed thoroughly. Since these critical material attributes have a significant effect on tablet making process parameters (compressibility, compactibility and etc) and its post compression characters.Keywords: Microcrystalline cellulose, isolation, characterization, raw material, tablet