Determination of lipid–water partition coefficient of neutral and ionic drugs by liposome electrokinetic chromatography

Profiling of lipid–water partition coefficients ( K L/W ) of drugs is an essential issue during the early stage of drug development. In this study, two liposomes, including 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DSPC) + cholesterol (Chol) (DSPC/Chol liposomes) and soybean lecithin (SPC) + Chol (SPC/Chol liposomes), were prepared for the liposome electrokinetic chromatography (LEKC) analysis, and the logarithm of lipid–water partition coefficients (log K L/W ) of neutral and ionic drugs were determined based on an iterative method. The log K L/W values determined by the SPC/Chol or DSPC/Chol liposomes LEKC were linearly fitted, which showed a good fitting coefficient ( R 2 = 0.89). Furthermore, the linear relationship between the data obtained from LEKC system and octanol–water system, immobilized artificial membrane, Caco-2 cell model, and software prediction was analyzed, respectively. Results illustrated that DSPC/Chol liposomes or SPC/Chol liposomes had a good linear relationship with Caco-2 cell model, and R 2 was 0.81 and 0.72, respectively. Moreover, the linear free energy relationship analysis suggested that the solute volume, hydrogen bond basicity, and J – were the main descriptors that drove the partition process of solutes in the SPC/Chol or DSPC/Chol LEKC system. In addition, the normalized properties of the SPC/Chol and DSPC/Chol LEKC systems through linear free energy relationship analysis were very close. In short, DSPC/Chol liposomes are more suitable for simulating cell membranes than SPC/Chol liposomes, and the developed LEKC is an effective partitioning model for measuring the log K L/W of drugs.