Microelectrometric titration measurement of the pKa's and partition and drug distribution coefficients of narcotics and narcotic antagonists and their pH and temperature dependence.

The pKa's, partition coefficients, and drug distribution coefficients (apparent partition coefficients) have been investigated for a number of narcotics and, where possible, for their congener narcotic antagonists. These studies were carried out by a microelectrometric titration technique as a function of temperature and pH. This method enables one to determine not only the dissociation constants to deconvolute overlapping pKa's, but also to determine the solubilities of oil-water distribution of these various drugs. The drug distribution coefficients displayed marked sensitivity to pH at values which span the range of attainable human physiological pH values. This has significant pharmacological implications for proper choice and scaling of drug dosages under various clinical situations. The partition coefficients and drug distribution coefficients were noticeably different at 20 degrees (where such measurements are customarily made) than at 37 degrees (body temperature). Furthermore, various drugs exhibit very nonequivalent increases in drug distribution coefficients with increasing temperature, ranginf from 21% for morephine to 200% for naltrexone. This nonregularity indicates that it will not be valid to extrapolate by any constant factor the measurements made at lower temperatures. Even the true partition coefficients increase with temperature from 20 degrees to 37 degrees. There is more of a difference in the drug distribution coefficients for naloxone and naltrexone than might have been expected from the similarities in their structures with naltrexone being significantly less lipophilic than naloxone. This would imply that this would lead to naloxone having a more rapid onset for antagonist activity and likewise a shorter duration of action than naltrexone.