Exploring the role of octanol-water partition coefficient and Henry’s law constant in predicting the lipid-water partition coefficients of organic chemicals

Abstract Partition coefficients for storage lipid-water (logK lw ) and phospholipid-water (logK pw ) phases are key parameters to understand the bioaccumulation and toxicity of organic contaminants. However, the published experimental databases of these properties are dwarfs and current estimation approaches are cumbersome. Here, we present partition models that exploit the correlations of logK lw , and of logK pw with the linear combinations of the octanol-water partition coefficient (logK ow ) and the dimensionless Henry’s law constant (air–water partition coefficient, logK aw ). The calibrated partition models successfully describe the variations in logK lw data (n = 305, R 2 = 0.971, root-mean-square-error (rmse) = 0.375), and in logK pw data (n = 131, R 2 = 0.953, rmse = 0.413). With the inputs of logK ow and logK aw estimated from the U.S. EPA’s EPI Suite, our models of logK lw and logK pw have exhibited rmse = 0.52 with respect to experimental values indicating suitability of these models for inclusion in the EPI Suite. Our models perform similar to or better than the previously reported models such as one parameter partition models, Abraham solvation models, and models based on quantum-chemical calculations. Taken together, our models are robust, easy-to-use, and provide insight into variations of logK lw and logK pw in terms of hydrophobicity and volatility trait of chemicals.