Formulation and Physical Characterization of Microemulsions Based Carboxymethyl Cellulose as Vitamin C Carrier

The main purpose of this research is to develop a cellulose derivative based microemulsion for transdermal delivery system. In this research, cellulose derivative used is carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) that was converted from cellulose by etherification reaction and analysed by FTIR instrument. The degree of substitution (DS) for carboxymethyl cellulose is 0.492. Microemulsion system consists of oleic acid as oil phase, Tween 20 as surfactant and propylene glycol as co-surfactant. The active ingredient used in this system is vitamin C. Determination of microemulsion area in the ternary phase diagram was done by titration method. From the result, microemulsion system with surfactant/co-surfactant ratio (K_m=3:1) produced the largest surface area in the ternary phase diagram. Microemulsions with and without vitamin C and CMC were characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS), electrical conductivity and rheometer. For size particle analysis, system without vitamin C and CMC have microemulsion droplet size between 20-200 nm. Based on the electrical conductivity and viscosity test, phase transition occurred in the microemulsion system from water-in-oil (w/o) to bicontinuous phase at 20 wt. % water percentage. The stability test showed microemulsion systems with the percentage of water up to 30 wt. % were stable at temperatures 4, 25 and 40 degree Celsius upon three weeks storage. (author)