Models for estimating the non-specific aquatic toxicity of organic compounds

Abstract

The solvation parameter model is used to construct models for estimating the non-specific aquatic toxicity of organic compounds to the fathead minnow, guppy, golden orfe, water flea and the prokaryote Vibrio fischeri. Size is the characteristic solute property promoting toxicity and solute hydrogen-bond basicity in reducing it. Interspecies differences in toxicity result from differences in the above properties and also because of significant differences in the hydrogen-bond basicity and dipolarity/polarizability of biomembranes. In general, the octanol–water or dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine–water distribution systems are not good surrogate models for the aquatic toxicity for any of the species studied. The retention factor in correlation models for selected chromatographic systems is a suitable descriptor for estimating non-specific aquatic toxicity of organic compounds for some species, such as the tadpole and guppy.