Prediction of the gas chromatographic relative retention times of flavonoids from molecular structure

Quantitative structure-retention relationships have been formulated for the gas chromatographic behaviour of 49 flavonoids in an apolar column, including flavones, flavonols, flavanones and a chalcone. Topological, geometric and electronic descriptors were obtained for model generation. Relationships between descriptors and the inverse form of the relative retention times of flavonoids relative to hispidulin were established using linear multiple regression. The best descriptors included in the model were 1/((3) chi(c) - (3) chi(c)(v)), and the sum of the values of the charges for the hydroxyl hydrogens. The predictive model had a correlation coefficient of 0.975 and a standard error of estimation of 0.120.