SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1980
STP27411S

An Evaluation of Using Partition Coefficients and Water Solubility to Estimate Bioconcentration Factors for Organic Chemicals in Fish

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Bioconcentration factors (BCF), water solubilities, and n-octanol-water partition coefficients are presented for 28 organic chemicals. The chemicals studied were of low to moderate lipid solubility, with bioconcentration factors ranging from 2 to 3400. The equation log BCF = 0.76 log P − 0.23 is proposed for estimating the bioconcentration factor from the partition coefficient.

The cost-effectiveness of measuring and estimating the partition coefficient and water solubility of organic chemicals is also discussed. The cost of measuring these two parameters was approximately $1000. Partition coefficients calculated from data in the literature at a cost of $2.00 per chemical differed from the measured values by only 7.2 percent. The water solubilities calculated from the partition coefficient differed from the measured solubilities by 17.2 percent for those chemicals with a partition coefficient greater than 100.

Author Information

Veith, GD
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Research Laboratory—Duluth, Duluth, Minn.
Macek, KJ
EG&G, Bionomics, Wareham, Mass.
Petrocelli, SR
EG&G, Bionomics, Wareham, Mass.
Carroll, J
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Criteria Branch, Washington, D. C.
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Details
Developed by Committee: E35
Pages: 116–129
DOI: 10.1520/STP27411S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-4775-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0280-4