Lipophilicity determination of some monoamine oxidase inhibitors: the effect of methanol and ammonium chloride.

The lipophilicity (RM value) of seventeen monoamine oxidase inhibitory drugs was determined by reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography, and the effect of salt concentration on the reversed-phase retention was studied by adding ammonium chloride to the eluent. Each drug exhibited regular retention behaviour, its RM value linearly decreasing with increasing concentration of methanol in the eluent. Ammonium chloride decreased the retention: the effect was higher at lower salt concentrations, which indicates that the phenomenon is of saturation character. The influence of ammonium chloride depended on the concentration of methanol (on the dielectric constant of the eluent) suggesting that methanol suppresses the dissociation of ammonium chloride resulting in a modified salting-in effect.