Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 2020, 11, 118-126 https://www.scirp.org/journal/pp ISSN Online: 2157-9431 ISSN Print: 2157-9423 DOI: 10.4236/pp.2020.116011 Jun. 29, 2020 118 Pharmacology & Pharmacy Acetylation of Starch Extracted from Rejected Fruits of Musa × paradisiaca L. to Obtain a Pharmaceutical Disintegrant Karla Dumancela 1 , Eduardo Mayorga 1 , Javier Santamaría-Aguirre 1,2* 1 Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador 2 Instituto de Investigación en Salud Pública y Zoonosis, CIZ, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador Abstract There are many natural sources to obtain pharmaceutical grade starch, one of which is banana (Musa × paradisiaca L.); nevertheless, the use of native starch has certain disadvantages compared to modified starches, whose disintegrat- ing properties are better. In this study, starch extracted from rejected fruits of Musa × paradisiaca L., was modified by acetylation, under the following op- timized experimental conditions: 130 mL acetic anhydride, 3 mL sodium hy- droxide 50% p/v for each 15 grams of native starch, at 123˚C during 3 hours. The reaction resulted in a modified green banana starch with twice as much swelling capacity compared to unmodified (native) starch; acetylation was ve- rified by infrared spectroscopy and degree of substitution of acetyl groups by back titration. The dissolution profiles of Ibuprofen tablets made with banana modified starch and commercial disintegrant, have no differences according with their similarity factor, f 2 . It is concluded that it is feasible to use green banana starch modified through acetylation as a pharmaceutical disintegrant. Keywords Modified Banana Starch, Acetylation, Swelling Capacity, Disintegrant, Dissolution Profile 1. Introduction In Ecuador the pharmaceutical sector invests only 8% of its profits in research, this low percentage prevents giving added value to locally developed products, in such a way that approximately 90% of the components of a drug product are imported. The lack of research and the almost non-existent national production How to cite this paper: Dumancela, K., Mayorga, E. and Santamaría-Aguirre, J. (2020) Acetylation of Starch Extracted from Rejected Fruits of Musa × paradisiaca L. to Obtain a Pharmaceutical Disintegrant. Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 11, 118-126. https://doi.org/10.4236/pp.2020.116011 Received: May 22, 2019 Accepted: June 26, 2020 Published: June 29, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access