A method for measuring the lipophilicity of compounds in mixtures of 10

J Biomol Screen. 2011 Mar;16(3):348-55. doi: 10.1177/1087057110396372. Epub 2011 Feb 22.

Abstract

Lipophilicity is an important parameter for any potential drug candidate. Accurate and efficient lipophilicity measurements facilitate the development of high-quality predictive in silico models that support the design of future drugs. Lipophilicity estimates derived from the traditional 1-octanol/water shake flask techniques have been the most widely employed and are therefore the best understood. This technique can be considered to give a good measure of a compound's lipophilicity, albeit slower and more labor intensive to run compared with some other methodologies. Herein is described and validated an efficient 1-octanol/water shake flask technique that has sufficient capacity to be run as a primary screen within the drug discovery process. This is achieved by the simultaneous measurement of the distribution coefficients of mixtures of up to 10 compounds using high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. Concerns regarding ion pair partitioning that could result in erroneous results due to interactions between compounds within a mixture are discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Biological Assay / methods*
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Lipid Metabolism
  • Lipids / chemistry*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Solubility*

Substances

  • Lipids