Synthesis and characterization of conducting polymer/alginate composite hydrogels: Effect of conducting polymer loading on the release behaviour of metformin drug

The present study reports synthesis and characterization of sodium alginate (Na-ALG) based composite hydrogels using polyaniline (PANI), poly(o-phenylenediamine) (POPD), poly(1-naphthylamine) (PNA), and poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). The synthesised hydrogels were investigated for their spectral, morphological and rheological properties. Metformin hydrochloride (MFH) was chosen as a model drug to study the release profiles using intestinal fluid pH of 7.4. Approximately 99 % drug release was attained for POPD/Na-ALG at 37 degrees C over a period of 12 h. Release kinetics was confirmed by employing the zero-order, first-order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models. It was found that almost all composite hydro-gels followed the zero order and Korsmeyer-Peppas models. The incorporation of conducting polymers as crosslinking agents was found to have a significant impact on the release behaviour and this property could be utilised to optimise and control the release of metformin hydrochloride as per desirable dosages.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.