Stereochemical aspects of benzodiazepine binding to human serum albumin. II. Quantitative relationships between structure and enantioselective retention in high performance liquid affinity chromatography.

Previously determined retention data for a series of benzodiazepine (BDZ) derivatives, comprising nine achiral compounds, four single enantiomers, and 18 individual isomers of nine racemates, on a chiral stationary phase based on immobilized human serum albumin (HSA) were analyzed to define quantitative relationships between structure and enantiospecific retention. Structural parametrization of the agents was done by means of hydrophobic fragmental constants and electronic and steric parameters obtained by computational chemistry methods. A structural descriptor was identified, a submolecular measure of polarity about the stereogenic center, that accounted for the stronger electrostatic interactions of the second-eluting enantiomer with the HSA chiral stationary phase. Quantitative structure-enantiospecific retention relationships were derived for both enantiomeric series and for achiral compounds, and structural requirements for binding to HSA were determined. Two types of binding sites were postulated. For BDZs in the P-conformation, binding to HSA involved a hydrophobic region with steric restrictions. For BDZs in the M-conformation, a hydrophobic region was also involved, as well as a cationic region that interacted electrostatically with carbon C(3) of the diazepine system and substituents at that carbon. These differences lead to different binding patterns for BDZ enantiomers and provide a rationalization for the diversified behavior of individual BDZs that was observed in previous displacement studies.