The use of visible and UV dissolution imaging for the assessment of propranolol hydrochloride in liquisolid compacts of Sesamum radiatum gum

This work explores the first use of UV imaging in liquisolid systems. The aim of this study was to simultaneously measure a model drug propranolol hydrochloride (PPN) release and compact swelling behaviour from liquisolid systems using sesamum radiatum gum by exploiting the visible and UV imaging capabilities of the novel surface dissolution instrument (SDI2). Liquisolid compacts were successfully prepared using polysorbate 80 as the liquid solvent. The influence of either colloidal silica or veegum (magnesium aluminium silicate) was also evaluated in the liquisolid sesamum gum compacts. Solid-state characterization using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) showed a decrease in the crystallinity of the model cationic drug. Visible and UV imaging was successfully used to detect differences between the conventional or physical mixture formulations containing veegum or colloidal silica and the liquisolid preparations as well as differences between their swelling behaviour. The use of this imaging technique provides added insights into the drug release behaviour of formulations.