Leaves of Vernonia galamensis (Asteraceae) have been used for the treatment of diabetesmellitus in folk medicine in northern Nigeria for ages. The crude extract of the leaves isdeliquescent and usually stored in airtight desiccators. Efforts to use common diluents such aslactose, starch, and magnesium carbonate for tablet formulation of the extract producedtablets with defects such as “sticking” and “picking”. The purpose of this study was to selectsuitable efflorescent pharmaceutical diluents namely; Aerosil® 200, Avicel® PH 101 andcalcium phosphate for the tablet formulation of the deliquescent crude extract of Vernoniagalamensis and to use the Heckel and Kawakita equations to investigate the compressibilityof the granules prepared using maize starch mucilage as binder. The Kawakita modelprovided an excellent fit having higher R2 values than the Heckel model and very low PKvalues (indicating good fluidity) for all the different formulations and is therefore preferred inexplaining the compressibility of granules of the extract. The ranking for goodcompressibility based on the diluent type was as follows; aerosil® 200 > Avicel® PH 101 >calcium phosphate

Leaves of Vernonia galamensis (Asteraceae) have been used for the treatment of diabetesmellitus in folk medicine in northern Nigeria for ages. The crude extract of the leaves isdeliquescent and usually stored in airtight desiccators. Efforts to use common diluents such aslactose, starch, and magnesium carbonate for tablet formulation of the extract producedtablets with defects such as “sticking” and “picking”. The purpose of this study was to selectsuitable efflorescent pharmaceutical diluents namely; Aerosil® 200, Avicel® PH 101 andcalcium phosphate for the tablet formulation of the deliquescent crude extract of Vernoniagalamensis and to use the Heckel and Kawakita equations to investigate the compressibilityof the granules prepared using maize starch mucilage as binder. The Kawakita modelprovided an excellent fit having higher R2 values than the Heckel model and very low PKvalues (indicating good fluidity) for all the different formulations and is therefore preferred inexplaining the compressibility of granules of the extract. The ranking for goodcompressibility based on the diluent type was as follows; aerosil® 200 > Avicel® PH 101 >calcium phosphate