QbD Assisted Optimization of Microwave-assisted Synthesis of Polyacrylamide Grafted Tragacanth: Characterization and Instrumental Analysis

Abstract

Background: Polysaccharides have recently attracted a lot of attention in the designing of drug delivery systems due to their wide availability, lack of toxicity, and numerous ways that their nature, structure, and functionality can be altered. Methods: Microwave-assisted synthesis of graft copolymer of tragacanth (TRA) is done with poly-acrylamide (PAM) by free radical polymerization using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as initiator. Grafting polymer concentration, CAN concentration, and exposure time were selected as independent variables, and their effect is studied for Grafting Efficiency (GE) and Intrinsic viscosity (IV) using Box-Behnken optimization design. Results: A quadratic model was suggested by the software for further statistical evaluation. On the basis of the desirability approach, optimized parameters for microwave-assisted synthesis were demon-strated, and further grafted TRA (Gr-TRA) was synthesized. Gr-TRA was studied for various charac-terization and elemental analysis. Gr-TRA showed the highest swelling index and least weight loss during the chemical resistance test. Further instrumental analyses like FTIR, XRD, and elemental anal-ysis confirmed the formation of Gr-TRA. Conclusion: Based on all of the above findings, the synthesis of PAM-grafted TRA has been optimized and could be used as a new pharmaceutical excipient in designing different dosage forms.