Molecular Modeling for Mobile Phase Optimization in RP-HPLC

Abstract

The applicability of molecular parameters calculated on the bases of molecular mechanics have been investigated for the prediction of reversed-phase retention behavior of structurally unrelated series of drug molecules. Non-polar, non-polar unsaturated and polar surface areas, surface energies, dipole moments, van der Waals radii and hydrophobicity values expressed by the logarithm of the octanol/water partition coefficients have been calculated from the molecular structure. The reversed-phase retention behavior was described by the slope and the intercept of the straight lines obtained by plotting the log k¹ values against the acetonitrile concentration of the mobile phase. The acetonitrile concentration (OP%₀) which was needed for the log k¹ = 0 retention was also calculated from the slope and intercept values. Step-wise linear regression analyses have been applied for revealing the correlations between the investigated parameters. The slope values could be described by the difference of the non-polar and non-polar accessible surface areas or by the total surface energy values and the van der Waals radii. The intercept values could be described by the hydrophobicity parameter, the slope and the reciprocal values of dipole moment. The acetonitrile concentration for the log k'=O retention (OP%₀) could have been calculated from the hydrophobicity and the non-polar unsaturated surface area values of the investigated compounds.