THE  AMEEIOAE" 
JOURNAL.  OF  PHA 
MAY,  1915 
A  NOTE  ON  COMPRESSED  T, 
By  S.  Bertha  Muller,  Assistant  Pharmacist,  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
Considerable  has,  at  various  times,  been  written  on  the  subject 
of  compressed  tablets,  their  history  and  development  up  to  the 
present-day  method  of  manufacture.  The  various  excipients  and 
diluents,  such  as  sugar,  starch,  etc.,  used  at  various  times  in  their 
manufacture,  have  also  been  dealt  with  in  detail.  This  paper,  there- 
fore, is  only  intended  to  add  a  few  more  facts  that  have  come  out  in 
the  course  of  some  investigations  made  by  the  writer. 
Recently,  in  doing  some  work  on  commercial  compressed  tablets 
and  tablet  triturates,  it  was  found  that  at  the  present  time  white 
dextrin  is  the  most  generally  used  diluent  and  disintegrator,  both 
for  compressed  tablets  and  tablet  triturates. 
White  dextrin  is  of  very  variable  quality.  Different  samples  of 
it  differ  widely  as  to  degree  of  conversion ;  some  reduce  Fehling's 
solution  readily,  while  others  hardly  affect  it  at  all,  and  between  the 
two  extremes  one  can  get  almost  any  degree  of  reduction  of  Fehling's 
solution  with  different  samples. 
White  dextrin  appears  to  be  well  fitted  as  a  disintegrator  and 
lubricant  for  insoluble  material.  It  causes  rapid  disintegration  of  a 
compressed  tablet,  provided  it  is  used  in  sufficient  quantity  and  a 
careful  working  method  is  adopted.  Some  substances  require  more, 
others  less  dextrin  to  bring  about  an  immediate  disintegration.  Thus, 
for  instance,  commercial  tablets  of  acetyl  salicylic  acid  contain  only 
30  per  cent,  of  dextrin,  while  those  of  the  basic  bismuth  salts  and 
of  salol  contain  between  40  and  50  per  cent,  of  it. 
The  immediate  breaking  up  of  a  tablet  on  contact  with  water  does 
not,  however,  mean  that  such  a  tablet  is  fit  for  solution  and  conse- 
quent ready  assimilation.  The  adhesive  substance  used  in  granulat- 
ing the  material  is  a  factor  of  no  small  importance.  Indeed,  the 
complete  disintegration  of  a  tablet  depends  largely  upon  it.  For 
instance,  if  gelatine  or  glue  is  used  in  granulating,  such  tablets  re- 
(197) 
