Pharmacognosy Assignment

Starch:
Starch is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose
monomer units joined by glycosidic bonds.

Pure starch is a white, tasteless and odorless powder that is insoluble

in cold water or alcohol. These are pharmacologically inactive and so are
used mainly as excipients in pharmaceutical products.
It consists of two types of molecules:
 Linear and Helical amylose.
 Branched Amylopectin.

Source:
Starches are mainly derived from corn or potato.
Uses in Pharmaceutical Industries: (Drug Formulations)
Starches are used in the
pharmaceutical industry for a wide variety of reasons, such as an
excipient, a tablet and capsule diluent, a tablet and capsule disintegrant,
a glidant, or as binder
As Disintegrant:
Starch is one of the most commonly used tablet
disintegrants at concentrations of 3–15% w/w.
Disintegrants are those substances which enable tablets and capsules
to break down into smaller fragments (dissolve) so that the drug can be
released for absorption.
Starches absorb water rapidly, hence allowing tablets to disintegrate
appropriately hence enabling them to dissolve readily and releasing the
active constituents of formulations.
As Diluents:
Diluents act as fillers in pharmaceutical tablets to increase
weight and improve content uniformity.
Starch is pharmacologically inactive and have very weak reactivity with
various drugs so are widely used as diluents in the pharmaceutical
products.
Also, starch is used for the preparation of standardized triturates of
colorants or potent drugs to facilitate subsequent mixing or blending
processes in manufacturing operations.
Starch is also used in dry-filled capsule formulations for volume
adjustment of the fill matrix.
As Binders:
Starches are used in the formulation of solid oral dosage
forms to hold the active pharmaceutical ingredient and inactive
ingredients together in a cohesive mix.

Special drug deliveries: (HASCL-6)

High amylose starch cross-linked 6 (HASCL-6)
derivatives were previously shown to control the release of drugs over
20 h from monolithic tablets highly loaded (up to 60% drug) due to this
starch is also used in special delayed drug deliveries.
Pregel Starch:
This starch is also used in food industries. The main role of
pregel starch is to increase the shelf life of frozen foods.
It provides consistency to final products, acts as a texture stabilizer
and gives a crisp coating to baked goods.
Pregel starch is ideal for both hot and cold systems.
Resistant starch:
Resistant starch is type of starch that escapes digestion in
the small intestine of healthy individuals.
High amylose starch from corn has a higher gelatinization temperature
than other types of starch and retains its resistant starch content
through baking, mild extrusion and other food processing techniques.
It is used as an insoluble dietary fiber in processed foods such as
bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, pretzels and other low moisture foods.