Equilibrium partitioning of organic compounds

Some fundamentals ...

Summary and further information

Question 2

Advanced problems

FAQ

Question 2

2 a)	In the text it was argued that the partitioning of chemicals that occur as pure phases (e.g. water) is not principally different from the partitioning of chemicals (most pollutants) that only occur at dilute concentrations within other existing phases. But why then is the partitioning of water into the air described by its saturation vapor pressure and not by a partition constant K _{water air/water} ( in [mol _water /L _air ]) or, as another example, why is the partitioning of water from its own phase into octanol described by its solubility in octanol (in [mol _water /L _octanol ]) instead of a partition constant K _{water octanol/water} [L _water /L _octanol ]?

2 b)	Could one also express solubility and vapor pressure in form of a partition constant?

	Proceed to the answer