Quantitative structure--activity relationship of double alkyl chain drugs

The quantitative structure--activity relationship of double alkyl chain drugs, including alkanols, aliphatic esters, ketones, barbiturates, amphetamines, butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors, antimalarials, and rifamycin amides, is investigated. A series of double-chain homologues, CnH2n+1XCmH2m+1, in which n changes, keeping m constant, is classified into three types: in type IIL, n greater than m; in type IIE, n = m; in type IIS, n less than m. When a linear relationship, vis., log (1/C) = an + b, holds, the slope a depends on the type; aI greater than or equal to aIIL greater than aIIE greater than aIIS. Here aI means the slope for single-chain homologues. The same order is observed for the equation, log hydrophobicity = an + b, where the hydrophobicity of drug denotes the water solubility, the critical micelle concentration, and the partition coefficient for the 1-octanol--water phases. Therefore, decreased biological activity of a double-chain drug relative to that of a single-chain isomer can be explained by a decreased hydrophobicity of the double-chain drug, due to the intramolecular association of these chains in water. When a parabolic relationship between log (1/C) and n holds, the optimum n depends on the type: nopI less than nopIIL less than nopIIE. This order is also explicable on the basis of a decreased hydrophobicity of double-chain drug. The N-dealklation rate of amphetamines in vivo appears to be affected by the steric factor as well as the hydrophobic factor. A decreased hydrophobicity of double-chain compounds should be taken into consideration for estimating their partition coefficients.