ABSTRACT
The value of log10Kow (also written log P, log P oct• log Pow) is usually reported. Measured values of log Kow range from about -4 for hydrophilic chemicals to +8.5 for hydrophobic chemicals. It is relatively easy to measure log Kow values below 5 accurately, and large compilations of such data are available in the literature (Hansch and Leo, 1979) and in computer data bases (Leo, 1993, Sangster, 1993). Accurate methods of measuring octanol-water partition coefficients of hydrophobic chemicals (5 ~log Kow~ 8) were developed only after 1982. Discrepancies between published log Kow values of a particular chemical can be as large as 0.4 to 3.5 log units (Sabljic, 1987), and comparatively little reliable data are available. The most accurate data compilation available contains measured Kow values for 10,000 chemicals (Leo and Weininger, 1989). A tabulation of much of the data is available in print (Sangster, 1989; Hansch et al., 1995).
