Asian Journal of Pharmacy and Technology

Lemon peels after removing the lemon juice are generally discarded. The potential of this waste material was explored in the present research work. The study aimed to extract pectin from the dried lemon peels and to assess its utility as a natural binder in tablets using Aspirin as a model drug. Pectin was extracted under pH 2; Ethanol ratios(ER) 1: 1 and extraction periods 120 min, at this condition highest yield of 18.21% was obtained. Citrus peels were previously treated with ethanol, and the obtained alcohol insoluble solids (AIS) were subjected to a sequential extraction. The method of extraction was Soxhlet distillation. After successful extraction and isolation of pectin from the dried lemon peels, it was investigated for its binding property in tablet. The binding property of isolated pectin was compared with HPMC. Pre-compression and post-compression evaluation studies were performed for all the prepared formulations and found to be within the range as prescribed in the pharmacopoeias. In vitro dissolution studies revealed that Batch F3 showed 62.66% drug release, whereas Batch F6 which comprised of HPMC as a binder exhibited highest drug release of 90.30% amongst all the formulations used in the study. The results of the study thus, revealed that pectin from lemon peel can act as excellent binder in dosage forms. Since, it is of natural origin and lemon peels are usually available at low cost it may prove to be a better binder as compared to commercially used synthetic binders.