Pharmacophore an International Research Journal
The aim of present study to enhance the solubility of quercetin, a poorly water soluble drug, quercetin containing blends (keeping total concentration 40% w/v, constant) was fabricated by mixed-solvency approach. In this technique, blends of solubilizers (sodium acetate, sodium citrate, urea as hydrotropic agent, propylene glycol, glycerin, PEG 200, PEG 400, PEG 600 as co solvents, PEG 4000, PEG 6000 as water soluble solvents etc.) have been employed to increase the solubility. The significant enhancement in solubility of drug in mixed solvents was observed in A4 blends which contain 10% sodium citrate, 5% sodium acetate and 25% S co-solvents (25% S co-solvents contains PG, glycerin, PEG 200, PEG 400, PEG 600, PEG 4000, PEG 6000). After improvement of solubility of quercetin in selected blends that incorporated into topical dosage form (prepared gel) by utilizing Carbopol ETD 2020 as gelling agent. The prepared blends and gel were evaluated for pH, surface tension, specific gravity and viscosity and in–vitro diffusion study, skin irritation studies, spreadability respectively. The characterization of pure quercetin, blend, and gel was performed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC); X-ray diffraction (XRD) etc. From experimental work it was found that the prepared formulation is safe, effective, non-irritant, non-toxic and stable with good spreadability. The results showed that mixed solvency has valuable and unique strategy to ameliorating the solubility of lipophilic herbal anticancer component, quercetin.
