Preparation and Characterisation of Gellan Gum Hydrogel containing Curcumin and Limonene

Abstract

Success in wound treatment requires careful assessment on the wound and suitable wound dressing. In this project a novel incorporation of both curcumin and limonene into gellan gum hydrogel have been done. This system is believed to have a better permeation of curcumin to the target area. The samples prepared are denoted as GGTF for gellan gum thin film, Cur-GGTF for curcumin gellan gum thin film. Samples of Cur-GGTF incorporated with limonene with three different concentrations of 0.0005 M, 0.0006 M and 0.0007 M are known as CurLim-GGTF05, CurLim-GGTF06 and CurLim-GGTF07, respectively. The hydrogels were crosslinked by calcium ion. From the FTIR analysis, all of the expected functional groups from the gellan gum, curcumin and limonene were found present in the hydrogel samples. The TGA-DTG analysis has proven that the incorporation of limonene into hydrogels has decreased the thermal stability of the hydrogels. The addition of limonene has caused a hike in the gel fractions of the hydrogels. The water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) and swelling test showed that the introductions of high concentrations of limonene into the hydrogels have hampered the absorption of water molecules thus causing the swelling degree to decrease.