Abstract
We have investigated whether three important ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion) related properties (aqueous solubility, human plasma protein binding, and human volume of distribution at steady-state) can be predicted from chemical structure alone if only the predicted predominant ionisation state and lipophilicity (calculated logP [P = octanol-water partition coefficient]) are considered. A simple, fast method for the in silico prediction of aqueous solubility of predominantly uncharged compounds has been developed, while some potential is shown for the prediction of predominantly charged or zwitterionic compounds. Ten other known in silico prediction methods for aqueous solubility have also been evaluated. It has furthermore been demonstrated that the molecular weight (MW) profile of training sets for the development of aqueous solubility prediction methods can influence their predictive performance with regard to test sets of either matching or diverging profiles. The same property descriptors which have been found most relevant for the prediction of aqueous solubility have also proved useful for the prediction of human plasma protein binding and human volume of distribution at steady-state.