Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Characterization of Microemulsions Prepared using Isopropyl Palmitate with various Surfactants and Cosurfactants

Hussam S Basheer¹, Mohamed Ibrahim Noordin¹, Mowafaq M Ghareeb²

¹Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; ²Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq.

For correspondence:- Mowafaq Ghareeb Email: mopharmacy@yahoo.com Tel:+009647901737638

Received: 5 September 2012 Accepted: 4 May 2013 Published: 12 June 2013

Citation: Basheer HS, Noordin MI, Ghareeb MM. Characterization of Microemulsions Prepared using Isopropyl Palmitate with various Surfactants and Cosurfactants. Trop J Pharm Res 2013; 12(3):305-310 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v12i3.5

© 2013 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of various surfactants and cosurfactants, and their ratio on microemulsions prepared with isopropyl palmitate (IPP).

Methods: Tween 20, 40, 60, and 80 were used separately as surfactant with methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol or 1-pentanol as cosurfactant, and IPP as oil phase to prepare various microemulsions. Various surfactant to cosurfactant ratios (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 1:0) were used in the preparation. Pseudoternary phase diagram was used to define the microemulsion area, and samples from the best combinations, i.e., those that produced the largest volume of microemulsion, were subjected to further characterization by polarized light microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), zetasizer, rheometer, and for stability.

Results: Based on the microemulsion areas produced in the pseudoternary phase diagrams, the the surfactants were ranked in the following order of effectiveness: Tween 80 > 60 > 40 > 20 while the alcohols (co-surfactants) were ranked as follows: 1-butanol > 1-pentanol > 1-propanol > ethanol = methanol. The best surfactant to cosurfactant ratio for microemulsion preparation was 3:1.

Conclusion: The selected surfactant/co-surfactant combination (i.e., Tween 80:1-butanol, 3:1) produces a stable microemulsion possesses a good potential as a drug delivery system.

Keywords: Microemulsion, Palm oil, Thermal analysis, Tween 80, Alcohol