Term: octanol-water partition ratio https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08192 Definition: Equilibrium concentration of a substance in octan-1-ol divided by its equilibrium concentration in water. Note: This is a measure of the lipophilicity of a substance. It is used in pharmacological studies and in the assessment of environmental fate and transport of organic chemicals. Source: PAC, 2022, 94, 353. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 474 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2018-1010) Citation: 'octanol-water partition ratio' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08192 License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.