Rapid determination of octanol–water partition coefficient using vortex-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction

• Vortex-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction is used for fast Kow determination.
• Suitable for compounds with a log Kow less than 3.5.
• Within 2 min equilibrium between the octanol and water phases is achieved.
• Uncertainty is within the acceptable log unit range.

Vortex-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction (VALLME) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is proposed here for the rapid determination of octanol–water partitioning coefficients (Kow). VALLME uses vortex agitation, a mild emulsification procedure, to disperse microvolumes of octanol in the aqueous phase thus increasing the interfacial contact area and ensuring faster partitioning rates. With VALLME, 2 min were enough to achieve equilibrium conditions between the octanolic and aqueous phases. Upon equilibration, separation was achieved using centrifugation and the octanolic microdrop was collected and analyzed in a HPLC system. Six model compounds with log Kow values ranging between ∼0.5 and 3.5 were used during the present investigations. The proposed method produced log Kow values that were consistent with previously published values and the recorded uncertainty was well within the acceptable log unit range. Overall, the key features of the proposed Kow determination procedure comprised speed, reliability, simplicity, low cost and minimal solvent consumption