Explain The Purpose Of Which Pill Coating Results In Highest Dissolution Rates?

The purpose of this experiment was to answer a question: Which pill coating results in highest dissolution rates? This is important because dissolution of medicine such as ibuprofen prior to absorption maximizes effectiveness. Therefore, understanding how tablet coatings can affect dissolution time will be beneficial to consumers.

Hypothesis:
If the three types of pills are submerged in an acidic solution of pH 4.5, the gelatin coated capsules will dissolve quickest. This hypothesis came to be because gelatin is made mostly of proteins which tends to break down more readily under acidic conditions. Additionally, as the dosage form is already liquid, it could be assumed that the dissolution of the drug will be faster than that of solid dosage
Using a pH of 4.5 replicates the acidity of the upper stomach, which is where the tablet will dissolve when taken orally.
Place the solution on a heating element and insert the thermometer set for 38°C. When the solution has reached 38°C, remove the saucepan from the heat.
Pour the water in the thermos, and continue to monitor the temperature for it to lower to 37°C (body temperature).
Drop a medium (2.5 cm length) sized stirring bar into the thermos and place the thermos onto the magnetic stirrer.
Set the mesh strainer on top of the thermos. This is where the testing tablets will be placed during experimentation.
Turn the Cenco magnetic stirrer on to the medium setting. As the bottom of the thermos is thicker than a classic beaker, a higher power setting is needed for the bar to begin spinning.
Drop the tablet of which is to be tested into the mesh strainer and start the stopwatch simultaneously. The placed tablet should be fully submerged under the aqueous solution.
Wrap the top of the thermos with clear food wrap in order to observe the experiment while avoiding heat loss.
Record when the tablet has fully dissolved and there are no particles in the mesh strainer, along with other observations. Repeat with each type of
It averaged to be 7 minutes and 10 seconds faster than the sugar coated tablets, and 5 minutes and 17 seconds faster than the gelatin coated capsules.

During the experiment, it was observed that while the sugar coated tablets contents were fully dissolved prior to the contents of the gelatin coated capsules, the gelatin coated capsules ended with a faster dissolution rate. This was due to the fact that the sugar coating takes longer to dissolve as it is thicker. In addition to this, both the sugar coated and gelatin coated ibuprofen had been observed to have its contents dispersed before the outer coating fully dissolved. With the film coated tablets, the film coating dissolved first.

As the gelatin capsule was released in a liquid dosage, it easily passed through the mesh strainer. Additionally, it had been observed subsequent to the dissolution of the gelatin coated capsule that the solution was the most opaque compared to the sugar coated and film coated tablets. In both Trial 1 and Trial 2 of tablet dissolution, it had been observed that while the final opacity of the solution was similar to one another when stirred, there were small particles that would settle at the bottom of the thermos in both FCT and SCT. This can be accounted for by the size of the mesh strainer that allowed larger particles to pass