Relation between water solubility, octanol/water partition coefficients, and bioconcentration of organic chemicals in fish: a review.

A survey was made of the literature describing relations between water solubility (S), the octanol-water partition coefficient (Poct), and the bioconcentration factor (BCF) of organic chemicals. Based on the relations between BCF and Poct it can be concluded that mostly BCF is log BCF = 0.79 log Poct-0.40. From relations between Poct and S it can be concluded that for most organic chemicals log Poct will not exceed 3 if S is greater than ca. 3 mmol/liter. This limit is far more reliable than the value of 2000 mg/liter which has been proposed by OECD Experts and confirmed by other authors.