Estimation of Caco‐2 Cell Permeability using Calculated Molecular Descriptors

Abstract Permeability of a compound by passive diffusion through a biological membrane such as Caco‐2 cell monolayers depends mainly on lipophilicity, molecular size and hydrogen bonding capacity of the solute. Since these properties are often used in structure‐permeability correlations, we have evaluated different calculated descriptors for size and hydrogen bonding, as well as their intercorrelations. A new descriptor for hydrogen bonding potential is introduced. It is demonstrated that a combination of appropriate size and H‐bonding descriptors using graphical or Eq.‐based approaches may be of potential use for membrane permeation estimation.