POLY MALTOSE ACRYLATE -GRAFT-ACRYLIC ACID HYDROGEL: A COPOLYMER WITH POTENTIAL APPLICATION IN ORAL DRUG DELIVERY

Abstract

Hydrogels are crosslinked polymers that have recently been used in agriculture, environmental remediation and medical applications as drug carriers. In this research maltose was modified to maltose-acrylate by reaction with acryloyl chloride. Poly maltose acrylate-graft-acrylic acid copolymer hydrogel was also synthesized via free-radical polymerization initiated with potassium persulphate (KPS) and N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent. The synthesized hydrogel was characterized by FTIR, SEM and DSC. The swelling capacity of the synthesized hydrogel was evaluated in various pH media ranging from pH 1-12 at 25oC. The hydrogel showed a good swelling capacity ranging from 107-1711% depending on the pH of the media and higher swelling ability was observed in basic media. Diphenylhydramine hydrochloride (DPH) as model drug was loaded into the polymeric hydrogel via post-loading method, the concentration of DPH loaded and released was measured using UV-visible spectrophotometer at 229.91nm where 99.5% DPH loading was achieved. The drug release (in- vitro) of the DPH loaded hydrogel in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) at 37oC for 48hrs was also evaluated. The results obtained show that the hydrogel released 86% and 98% of DPH drug in SGF and SIF respectively. The hydrogel also exhibited excellent fluid absorption and retention capacity. The results obtained in this work suggest that the hydrogel has promising applications in DPH drug delivery system.