Linear and non-linear relationships between soil sorption and hydrophobicity

The relationship between log K (oc) and log P was examined by use of a large dataset. For most of the hydrophobic compounds (e.g. 0.5 < log P < 7.5), the organic carbon content plays a dominant role in soil sorption and the sorption coefficient is linearly related to the octanol/water partition coefficient. For hydrophilic compounds (e.g. log P < 0.5), hydrophobic sorption becomes less significant. The hydrophilic contribution to sorption is equal to, or higher than, the hydrophobic contribution to sorption, resulting in the observed K (oc) values being higher than those predicted from their log P values. For highly hydrophobic compounds (e.g. log P > 7.5), log K (oc) decreases with increasing hydrophobicity because of a lack of chemical availability due to low solubility. A linear solvation energy relationship shows that the sorption potential increases with increasing molecular size by increasing the dispersion interactions between the chemical and soil organic phase. The sorption potential decreases with increase in the basicity of hydrophobic compounds by increasing the H-bonding of chemicals with water. Principal component analysis shows that the octanol/water system is the closest system, but not an ideal surrogate, to describe the soil sorption for hydrophobic compounds as compared with other solvent/water partition systems.

Toxicity of organic pollutants to seven aquatic organisms: effect of polarity and ionization

The toxicity of organic chemicals to Vibrio fischeri, river bacteria, algae, Daphnia magna and fishes were analysed. The results showed that the toxicity of chemicals to narcotics was dependent on hydrophobicity. A single model for both polar and non-polar narcotics was developed by inclusion of a polarity descriptor as well as the hydrophobic parameter. The highly hydrophobic polar narcotics could be treated as non-polar narcotics because their polar functional group(s) make(s) a relatively small contribution to polarity as compared with their hydrophobicity. In order to investigate the toxic mechanism of action for reactive compounds, the response-surface approach was used to develop models derived from easily calculated descriptors. The stepwise analysis selected the octanol/water partition coefficient and a polarity descriptor to parameterize bio-uptake and reactivity, respectively, for seven species. Benzoic acids can be easily absorbed into the unicellular bacteria, but this is not the case for multicellular D. magna and fish. Their toxicity to V. fischeri is much higher than that to D. magna and carp. Regression analysis was performed based on the model that we developed for ionizable compounds. Good correlations were observed by introducing the correction factor for ionizable compounds. The toxic mechanisms are discussed.

[Memory-improving effect of aqueous extract of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge]

The study shows that the aqueous extract of Astragulus membranaceus (AMWE) can improve the anisodine-induced impairment on memory acquisition as well as the alcohol-elicited deficit of memory retrieval (number of errors were reduced and latent period was prolonged) in step down, and can also prolong the gasping duration of mice after decapitation at doses of 50g/kg (ig) for 7 days.