Theoretical calculation and prediction of intestinal absorption of drugs in humans using MolSurf parametrization and PLS statistics.

A method for modeling and prediction of the intestinal absorption of drugs in humans using theoretically computed molecular descriptors and multivariate statistics has been investigated using 20 diverse drug-like compounds. The program MolSurf was used to compute theoretical molecular descriptors related to physicochemical properties such as lipophilicity, polarity, polarizability and hydrogen bonding. The multivariate Partial Least Squares Projections to Latent Structures (PLS) method was used to delineate the relationship between the intestinal absorption of drugs in humans and the theoretically computed molecular descriptors.Good statistical models were derived. Properties associated with hydrogen bonding had the largest impact on absorption and should be kept to a minimum to promote high absorption. High charge-transfer properties and the presence of surface electrons, i.e. valence electrons, which are not tightly bonded to the molecule, were also found to promote high absorption.