Kinetic analysis of relationship between partition coefficient and biological response.

Both nonequilibrium and equilibrium models were proposed to explain the optimal biological response to a set of congeners with respect to the oil-water partition coefficient (P). A detailed analysis of the kinetic model proposed by Hansch demonstrates the bilinear form of the model, with the initial slope of the logarithm of the concentration for 50% receptor binding versus log P having a slope of greater than one. This result is in contrast to the equilibrium model for an initial slope of less than one. Thus, a criterion is established for deciding whether equilibrium or nonequilibrium processes apply.