Characterization of freeze-dried gallic acid/xyloglucan.

BACKGROUND: Tamarind seed xyloglucan (TSX) is generally used for drug delivery systems. Gallic acid (GA) possesses various pharmacological activities. It has a good solubility and bioavailability but short half-life. PURPOSE: To prepare a sustained-release of GA to overcome its relatively short half-life. GA was blended with TSX and freeze-dried. The physicochemical properties of freeze-dried GA and freeze-dried GA/TSX were characterized, and the release profiles of GA from these freeze-dried samples were investigated. METHOD: All freeze-dried samples were characterized by PXRD, spectroscopic and thermal analyses. The dissolution studies were performed according to the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) XXX. RESULTS: According to FTIR, FT-Raman and (13)C CP/MAS NMR, the spectra of freeze-dried GA were similar to that of the anhydrous form. Nevertheless, DRIFTS and DSC were able to differentiate these two forms. The crystallinity of GA in the freeze-dried GA/TSX was the same as that of the freeze-dried GA. DSC indicates that there were interactions between GA and TSX. It was of interest that a freeze-dried sample with low amount of GA, 0.2% GA/1% TSX was mostly in an amorphous form. Moreover, all freeze-dried GA/TSX preparations demonstrated a sustained-release of GA compared to GA alone. The freeze-dried 1% GA/1% TSX provided the best sustained-release of GA of up to 240 min. CONCLUSIONS: TSX could change a crystal form of a small molecule to a mostly amorphous form. It was of importance that the freeze-dried GA/TSX could effectively retard the release of GA. These samples may be able to overcome the limitation for the therapeutic use of GA due to its short biological half-life.