Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12, 7250-7264; doi:10.3390/ijms12107250 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms Article Estimating the Octanol/Water Partition Coefficient for Aliphatic Organic Compounds Using Semi-Empirical Electrotopological Index Erica Silva Souza 1, Laize Zaramello 2, Carlos Alberto Kuhnen 2, Berenice da Silva Junkes 3, Rosendo Augusto Yunes 1 and Vilma Edite Fonseca Heinzen 1,* 1 Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, Trindade, Florianópolis, SC 88040-970, Brazil; E-Mails:
[email protected] (E.S.S.);
[email protected] (R.A.Y.) 2 Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, Trindade, Florianópolis, SC 88040-970, Brazil; E-Mails:
[email protected] (L.Z.);
[email protected] (C.A.K.) 3 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Santa Catarina , Avenida Mauro Ramos 950 , Florianópolis , SC 88020-300, Brazil; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +55-48-3721-6849; Fax: +55-48-3721-6850. Received: 8 September 2011; in revised form: 8 October 2011 / Accepted: 14 October 2011 / Published: 24 October 2011 Abstract: A new possibility for estimating the octanol/water coefficient (log P) was investigated using only one descriptor, the semi-empirical electrotopological index (ISET ). The predictability of four octanol/water partition coefficient (log P) calculation models was compared using a set of 131 aliphatic organic compounds from five different classes. Log P values were calculated employing atomic-contribution methods, as in the Ghose/Crippen approach and its later refinement, AlogP; using fragmental methods through the ClogP method; and employing an approach considering the whole molecule using topological indices with the MlogP method.