Studies on Improvement of Water-Solubility of Curcumin With Electrospun Nanofibers

Curcumin has low solubility and low permeability thus classified as BCS Class 4. The aim of this study, improve the solubility of curcumin by preparing electrospun nanofibers. Curcumin nanofibers were prepared from a final mixture (FM), which contained HPMC and PEO polymers. Before, conductivity, viscosity and surface tension values of each polymer solution and the FM were measured. Viscosity of PEO (polyethylene oxide) and HPMC (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose) solutions were found to be low compare to FM. The conductivity of FM was higher than PEO solution whereas lower than HPMC solution. The surface tension of polymer solutions were higher than FM. Electrospinning was performed at 14 kV using a flow rate of 0.6 mL/h for 3 h. The distance of needle tip to the collector was 21 cm. The morphologies and the mean diameter of fibers were determined by SEM (138±39 nm). DSC and FT-IR studies of nanofibers were carried out. According to results, electrospinning didn’t alter chemical structure of polymers and CUR during the process. Solubility studies were carried out at distilled water and pH 1.2 buffer. FM had lowest surface tension value thus provided better electrospinning process. Drug loading was found to be 137.75 μg per cm2. Curcumin was found practically insoluble in distilled water and pH 1.2 buffer. The solubility of curcumin was increased from zero to 7.66 mg/l, 1.57 mg/l in water and pH 1.2 buffer respectively. It was concluded that electrospinning is a useful technique for the improvement of the poorly-soluble drugs such as curcumin.