BEHAVIOR OF PREGELATINIZED STARCH DURING GRANULATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON TABLET PROPERTIES

Using pregelatinized starch as a binder, fluidized-bed granulation and agitation granulation were attempted to investigate the behavior of s tarch and to examine its relationship with the resultant tablet proper ties (hardness and disintegration). The amounts of soluble starch befo re and after granulation were measured, Also, hardness and the disinte gration time of the resultant tablets were measured, In fluidized-bed granulation, the soluble starch content did not change noticeably duri ng granulation, thus exerting no influence on tablet properties, On th e other hand, in agitation granulation, the soluble starch content inc reased, so that the disintegration time of the resultant tablets was p rolonged, This may be because the soluble starch increased during agit ation granulation due to a large shearing force and inhibited water pe netration into the tablet and/or because some changes occurred in the swelling properties of the pregelatinized starch. Therefore, when preg elatinized starch is used as a binder, the fluidized-bed method is rec ommended to consistently obtain satisfactory tablet properties.