Lipophilicity and biomimetic properties measured by HPLC to support drug discovery

HPLC methods that use chromatographic retention times for gaining information about the properties of compounds for the purpose of designing drug molecules are reviewed. Properties, such as lipophilicity, protein binding, phospholipid binding, and acid/base character can be incorporated in the design of molecules with the right biological distribution and pharmacokinetic profile to become an effective drug. Standardization of various methodologies is suggested in order to obtain data suitable for inter-laboratory comparison. The published HPLC methods for lipophilicity, acid/base character, protein and phospholipid binding are critically reviewed and compared with each other using the solvation equation approach. One of the most important discussion points is how these data can be used in models and how they can influence the drug discovery process. Therefore, the published models for volume of distribution, unbound volume of distribution and drug efficiency are also discussed. The general relationships between the chemical structure and biomimetic HPLC properties are described in view of ranking and selecting putative drug molecules.