Investigation of Solid Dispersion Technique in Improvement of Physicochemical Characteristics of Ibuprofen Powder

Ibuprofen solid dispersions were prepared by the solvent and fusion-solvent methods using polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), eudragit RS PO, eudragit RL PO and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) as carriers to improve physicochemical characteristics of ibuprofen. The prepared solid dispersions were evaluated for the flowability, solubility characteristics and dissolution behavior. Flowability studies of powders showed that solid dispersion technique improve flow properties compared with the physical mixtures. Solid dispersion technique found to be effective in increasing the aqueous solubility of ibuprofen. The dissolution of ibuprofen and polymers (PVP, HPMC, eudruagit and PEG-6000) were investigated using UV spectroscopy. Dissolution was carried out in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) using a standard USP II dissolution apparatus. In vitro dissolution studies showed that in the dispersion systems containing eudragit or HPMC, dissolution of ibuprofen was retarded, which attributed to ionic interaction and gel forming, respectively. But solid dispersion containing PEG, as a carrier, gave faster dissolution rates than the physical mixtures. Finally, solid dispersion of ibuprofen:PEG 6000 prepared in 1:1.5 ratio showed excellent physicochemical characteristics and was found to be described by the zero order kinetic, and was selected as the best formulation in this study.