Controlled release of drugs from cellulose acetate matrices produced from sugarcane bagasse: monitoring by square-wave voltammetry

Abstract

In this paper, cellulose triacetate (CTA) was produced from sugarcane bagasse and used as matrices for controlled release of paracetamol. Symmetric and asymmetric membranes were obtained by formulations of CTA/dichloromethane/drug and CTA/dichloromethane/water/drug, respectively, and they were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Different morphologies of membranes were observed by SEM, and the incorporation of paracetamol was confirmed by lowering of the glass transition temperature (T_g) in the DSC curves. This indicates the existence of interactions between the matrix and the drug. The evaluation of drug release was based on the electrochemical monitoring of paracetamol through its oxidation at a glassy carbon electrode surface using square-wave voltammetry (SWV), which provides fast, precise and accurate in situ measurements. The studies showed a content release of 27% and 45% by the symmetric and asymmetric membranes, respectively, during 8 h.

Keywords:

• Cellulose acetate
• controlled release
• membranes
• square wave voltammetry
• sugarcane bagasse

Acknowledgments

The authors thank CAPES for the access to “Portal Perió dicos”, to FAPEMIG for project CEX-APQ-01128/13 and to Faculdade de Engenharia Quimica of the Federal University of Uberlandia for the use of the SEM. Ribeiro and Tormin thank CAPES and FAPEMIG for the scholarships, respectively.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.