Mucilage of Starch

Mucilago Amyli BPC Mucilage of starch This mucilage is used as a basis for enemata... 

Oil of Turpentine. 2 fluid ounces. Mucilage of Starch or G-ruel 1 pint. 

Characters and Tests.—Colourless, generally opaque, cubic crystals, readily soluble in water, less so in spirit of wine. It commonly has a feebly alkaline reaction. Its solution mixed with mucilage of starch gives a blue colour on the addition of a minute quantity of solution of chlorine (to set free iodine), thus proving that the salt is an iodide. Its aqueous solution mixed with solution of tartaric acid or hydrogen-sodium tartrate, furnishes a crystalline precipitate (hydrogen-potassium tartrate), indicating the presence of potassium. 

To a solution containing the equivalent of about 0 15 g of copper in 50 ml of water or dilute acid, add a slight excess of sodium carbonate and acidify with 5 ml of acetic acid. Add at least 3 g of potassium iodide and titrate immediately with 01N sodium thiosulphate until nearly all the iodine has been removed add mucilage of starch and 1 drop of 0-1N silver nitrate (to make the disappearance of the blue starch-iodide colour sharper) and complete the titration. 1 ml. O IN = 0 006354 g Cu. 

Procedure Shake 10 ml of chloroform with 20 ml of freshly boiled and cooled DW for 3 minutes and allow to separate. To the aqueous layer add 1 ml cadmium iodide soln. and 0.1 ml of 10 ml of starch mucilage. Prescribed Limit No blue colour is produced. 

Depctrins, products of the partial hydrolysis of starch, are polysacchandes of lower molecular weight than starch. They are used in infant food because they are easier to digest than starches. Dextrins are sticky when wet and are used as mucilage on postage stamps and envelopes. 

It is a perennial 1-2 m tall herb with an erect woody stem, which grows in Central Europe. Late in the autumn the roots from wild and cultivated plants are harvested and the cork and outer parts of the bark are removed. The peeled root is dried quickly at ca 40°. The crude drug is often cut into small cubes, to facilitate the production of starch-free mucilage, which is made by maceration with cold water of the root cubes. 

In spite of recent developments and research in synthetic polymers applied in pharmaceutical field, biomaterials, particularly polysaccharides like starch, cellulose, gums and mucilages, have a greater role to play in pharmaceutical formulation development. It is concluded from the discussion in this entry that because of some limitations at the molecular level, there is a need to modify the parent structure of starch to make it available for pharmaceutical and other industrial uses. Physically and chemically modified starches showed very promising results in the delivery of therapeutic agents. The modified starches have enormous potential to be used in drug delivery because of its easy modification and biodegradability. 

If the conclusion drawn is correct, a similar behaviour of other negative hydrophilic sols as to the influence of indifferent salts on the relative viscosity was to be expected. Indeed the electroviscous effect has been found to exist in all cases investigated, viz.t gtim arabic soluble starch mucilage of semen lini and of carrageen, sodium thymus nucleate and sodium yeast nucleate. Pecularities shown by some of these examples will be discussed later p. 223 10 and p. 227 11. 

Dextrins are polysaccharides of intermediate molecular mass produced by partial hydrolysis of starch. They are used in making tablets of drugs, in sizing paper and fabrics, in printing inks and glues, and many other ways. The mucilage on postage stamps is dextrin. 

Bletilla tuber contains large amounts of starch (30.48% in fresh tuber) and mucilage (Bletilla mannan), which is a polysaccharide consistingofmannoseandglucoseina4 1 ratio. 

To an amount of sample containing about 0 4 g of iodide in a longnecked flask add sufficient water to bring the volume to about 50 ml. Neutralise with concentrated hydrochloric acid and then add about 15 ml of the acid in excess followed by 6 ml of 10 per cent potassium cyanide solution, maintaining the temperature below 20°. Titrate with 0-05M potassium iodate until the dark brown solution becomes pale yellow, add 5 ml of starch mucilage and continue the titration until the liquid becomes colourless. 

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