Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography study of lipophilicity of imidazo[2,1-f]theophylline derivatives

The present study is a part of our physicochemical and pharmacological studies in a group of tricyclic theophylline derivatives. The investigated compounds exhibit different pharmacological profiles in comparison to theophylline and have been tested as potential antidepressant and/or antipsychotic agents. The differences in pharmacological action between theophylline and their tricyclic derivatives can be explained by their various physicochemical properties, especially lipophilicity. The chromatographic behavior of twenty three derivatives of imidazo[2,1-f]theophylline was investigated, using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method. Moreover, partition coefficients and selected pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated computationally. Principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to establish the relationship between obtained experimental and computational parameters.