what is kow?
Definition: The octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow) is defined as the ratio of a chemical's concentration in the octanol phase to its concentration in the aqueous phase of a two-phase octanol/water system. Kow = Concentration in octanol phase / Concentration in aqueous phase. Values of Kow are thus, unitless. The parameter is measured using low solute concentrations, where Kow is a very weak function of solute concentration. Values of Kow are usually measured at room temperature (20 or 25'C. The effect of temperature on Kow is not great-usually on the order of 0.001 to 0.01 Iog Kow units per degree-and may be either positive or negative.