Encapsulation of Theophylline in Gelatin A-Pectin Complex Coacervates.

The present study aims at synthesizing gelatin A-pectin complex coacervates and encapsulation of theophylline in the polymer system. Variation and optimization of different reaction parameters such as pH, ratio between the polymers and cross-linker concentration was carried out to attain higher product yield. Relative viscosity, turbidity and UV-visible measurements were done for optimization. The optimum ratio between gelatin A-pectin was fixed at weight ratio 42:8 and pH=3.5. It was further observed that adhesion between the microcapsules decreased by the use of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (SCMC) to the coacervate. The synthesized microcapsules were characterized by using spectroscopic techniques to assess their formation, drug loading and chemical interaction between theophylline and coacervate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the formation of microcapsules. Study relating to the encapsulation efficiency and swelling of the complex coacervates were also carried out.