Microwave-assisted Synthesis and Characterization of Acrylamide Grafted Copolymer of Okra Gum with the Application of 3² Central Composite Designs (CCD)

Introduction: Modified polymeric materials are nowadays most commonly used for making modified-release pharmaceutical dosage forms. Methods: In this present research study, a grafted copolymer is synthesized by using acrylamide and okra gum with the help of the redox initiator method. The method was optimized using a 3-factor, 2-level central composite design (CCD). Optimization of the synthetic process was done by the application of QbD; the amount of acrylamide (1-10g), amount of initiator (50-150 mg), and microwave irradiation exposure time (1-5 min) were taken as critical process variables, and response factors were selected as percentage grafting (% grafting) and percentage yield (% yield). Results: The optimized formulation (F13) exhibited a maximum percentage of grafting of 82.2 and a percentage yield of 12.54 of acrylamide (5.5g), amount of initiator as 100 mg, and microwave irradiation exposure time as 3 min. Conclusion: The characterization of synthesized grafted copolymer product was performed by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), FT-IR spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).