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A 2(3) factorial experimental design has been used to quantitatively study individual and interaction effects of the nature of binder (N), binder concentration (c) and relative density of tablet (d) on the disintegration time (DT) and dissolution times, t1, t50 and t90, of paracetamol tablet formulations. The factorial design was also used to study the quantitative effects of pregelatinization of starch binders on these parameters, i.e., N, c and d. In general, the most common ranking of the individual effects on DT, t1, t50 and t90 for native/native, pregelatinized/pregelatinized and native/pregelatinized starch binder formulations was c > d > N. For interaction effects, the most common ranking was N-c > c-d > N-d for all formulations. The results generally showed that c can considerably affect DT, t1, t50 and t90 of the tablets.

This study evaluates the disintegrant properties--tablet disintegration time (DT) and crushing strength--friability/disintegration time (CSFR/DT) ratio of a paracetamol tablet formulation prepared with sorghum and plantain starches in comparison with corn starch BP. The effects of disintegrant concentration, relative density of tablets and the mode of disintegrants addition were studied. The study revealed that the rank order of effectiveness of the starches as disintegrants was corn > plantain > sorghum. The mode of addition of disintegrants, disintegrant concentration and relative density had a significant impact on the disintegrant properties. The tested starches, namely, sorghum and plantain, showed promising results.

A study has been made of the effects of pregelatinization of native sorghum and plantain starches on the mechanical properties of a paracetamol tablet formulation in comparison with corn starch BP. The mechanical properties tested, viz. tensile strength (T) and brittle fracture index (BFI) of the paracetamol tablets were affected by pregelatinization of the starch. The results suggest that pregelatinized starches may be useful as binders when a particular degree of bond strength and brittleness is desired.