Serum albumin binding of structurally diverse neutral organic compounds: data and models

Binding to serum albumin has a strong influence on freely dissolved, unbound concentrations of chemicals in vivo and in vitro. For neutral organic solutes, previous studies have suggested a log-log correlation between the albumin-water partition coefficient and the octanol-water partition coefficient (K(ow)) and postulated highly nonspecific binding that is mechanistically analogous to dissolution into solvents. These relationships and concepts were further explored in this study. Bovine serum albumin (BSA)-water partition coefficients (K(BSA/w)) were measured for 83 structurally diverse neutral organic chemicals in consistent experimental conditions. The correlation between log K(BSA/w) and log K(ow) was moderate, with R(2) = 0.76 and SD = 0.43. The log K(BSA/w) of low-polarity compounds including a series of chlorobenzenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons increased with log K(ow) linearly up to log K(ow) = 4-5, but then the linear relationship apparently broke off, and the increase became gradual. The fitting of polyparameter linear free energy relationship models with five solute descriptors was just comparable to that of the log K(ow) model (R(2) = 0.78-0.79, SD = 0.41-0.42); the relatively high SD obtained suggests that solvent dissolution models are not capable of modeling albumin binding accurately. A size limitation of the binding site(s) of albumin is suggested as a possible reason for the high SD. An equilibrium distribution model indicates that serum albumin generally has high contributions to the binding in the serum of polar compounds and relatively small low-polarity compounds, whereas albumin binding for large low-polarity compounds is outcompeted by the strong partitioning into lipids due to low relative affinity of albumin for these compounds.