[Determination of n-octanol/water partition coefficients for persistent organic pollutants by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with dual-point retention time correction].

n-Octanol/water partition coefficients (logKow) for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) have been determined by a modified method of reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). A dual-point retention time correction (DP-RTC) was used to rectify chromatographic retention time (tR) shift resulted from stationary phase aging and so on. Based on this correction, the relationship model between logKow and logk(w), the logarithm of the retention factor extrapolated to pure water, was trained by a set of model compounds (a total of 37) with reliable experimental logKow as training set, including benzene homologues, PAHs and PCDD/Fs-related compounds. A linear regression equation of logKow = (1.18 +/- 0.02) logk(w) + (0.36 +/- 0.11) was established with correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.985, cross-validated correlation coefficient (R2cv) of 0.983 and standard deviation (SD) of 0.16. This quantitative structure retention relationship (QSRR) model was further validated using four verification compounds, biphenyl, fluorene, PCDD 1 and PCDF 114, with reliable experimental logKow val- ues. The RP-HPLC-determined Kow values showed good consistency with shake-flask (SFM) or slow-stirring (SSM) results, especially for highly hydrophobic compounds. Then, the logKow values for 29 POPs of wide interest were evaluated by the improved RP-HPLC method for the first time. The DP-RTC-HPLC method is recommended for the determination of the logKow values of POPs with strong hydrophobicity.