Abstract

Guar gum is a galactomannan polysaccharide obtained from the dried ripe seeds of Cyamopsis tetragonolobus. The objective of the present study was to derivatise guar gum to SCEG and to overcome limitations of guar gum viz, susceptible to microbial contamination, fall in viscosity on storage and to form a clear aqueous dispersion without imparting color to the formulation. The semisyntheic derivative of SCEG obtained by alcoholic alkali suspension method of guar gum was tried by applying optimization technique (32 factorial design) by altering the 2-chloropropionic acid:guar gum, percentage w/v ratio NaOH and temperature of the reaction mixture. The optimized polymer obtained from the various trials was subjected to physical, chemical and spectral characterization. Characterization revealed that derivatization of the guar gum to sodium carboxy ethyl guar. The derivatised polymer exhibited high stability at all ranges of temperature (50C, 250C, 370C and 450C), controlled rate of hydration, pseudoplastic flow pattern and less susceptibility to microbial contamination. Sodium carboxy ethyl guar solution is more controllable than gaur gum with regard to its thickening, viscosity building, suspending, film forming and excipent in the matrix tablets. The valid application of optimization technique was found to be highly productive in achieving an effective semisynthetic derivative meeting the ideal requirements.