Molecular forces, toxicology

Without doubt log Kow has been the most commonly utilized physicochemical descriptor in QSAR analysis. The reason is that it is considered to represent molecular hydrophobicity (it is incorrect, however, to consider a log Kow value as hydrophobicity — it merely describes it). Hydrophobicity is an extremely important property in predictive toxicology. As described in Chapter 1 hydrophobicity is assumed to account for the capability to enter, pass through, and/or accumulate in cell membranes, as well as a being one of the main forces in binding effects. Therefore hydrophobicity, as described by log K v, is a major driving force in predicting toxicity (Chapters 8 and 12) and distribution in humans (Chapter 11) and the environment (Chapters 14 to 16). 

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