Amphiphilicity profiling

Lipid bilayers are the barriers for the passive entry of drugs into cells. The key is to identify the compounds that will pass through the lipid membrane.

Air/water interface represents a good model for the lipid membrane:

Amphiphilic molecules are highly oriented both in the lipid membrane and in the air/water interface.

Studying the behavior of molecules (using Gibbs adsorption isotherm model) in the air/water interface correlates precisely to their behavior in lipid membranes.

> By in vitro amphilicity profiling of drugs at an air/water interface vital properties are obtained, that predict the ability or probability of the compound to pass passively through the cell membrane.