Formulation and Characterization of Capsule Shells from Breadfruit Peel (<i>Artocarpus altilis</i> (Park) Fosberng)

Capsule shells are commonly made of gelatin but can also be made from starch or other suitable materials. An alternative raw material to replace gelatin in capsule shell production is pectin. Natural sources containing pectin include breadfruit peel. This study aims to produce capsule shells from breadfruit peel and determine the characteristics of the resulting capsule shells. Pectin was obtained by extracting breadfruit peel with acidified water to pH 1.5 at 80°C for 150 minutes. The capsule shells were formulated with pectin concentrations of 3% (F1), 6% (F2), and 9% (F3). The characteristics of the pectin obtained include an equivalent weight of 3168 mg, methoxyl content of 3.26%, and galacturonic acid content of 96.27%. The capsule shells produced from this pectin have the following characteristics: white color, not too hard texture, and odorless for F1; light brown color, slightly hard texture, and odorless for F2; dark brown color, hard texture, and odorless for F3. The size parameters (weight, total length, body diameter, and cap diameter) obtained were F1 (60 mg, 21.5 mm, 7.25 mm, 7.5 mm), F2 (70 mg, 22.07 mm, 7.125 mm, 7.5 mm), F3 (80 mg, 21.25 mm, 7.25 mm, 7.5 mm). The characteristics of the capsule shells that only meet Medisca standards are F3 (80 mg), and the total length, cap diameter, and body diameter of all three formulations do not meet Medisca standards. The disintegration time in all three formulations already meets the requirements set by the Indonesian Pharmacopoeia V edition, which is below 15 minutes.