The toxicities to Oryzias latipes, Daphnia pulex, and Chlorella vulgaris of nonspecific toxicants (alkanols, substituted benzenes, and alkyl toluates) were well collineated with the logarithm of the octanol/water partition coefficient, log Kow. However, specific toxicants such as 3‐(3,4‐dichlorophenyl)‐1,1‐dimethylurea (DCMU), lindane, diflubenzuron, rotenone, buprofezin, dieldrin, 1,1,1‐trichloro‐2,2‐bis(p‐chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT), and fenvalerate exhibited excess toxicities dependent on the test organism species. The species‐specific excess toxicities were much higher than those expected from log Kow and seemed to appear only when the test organisms possessed the specific sites for the toxicants. However, the toxicities of n‐butyl‐ and n‐propyl‐p‐toluates to Oryzias latipes were slightly lower than those predicted from log Kow. The toxicity alleviation corresponded well to the ester biodegradability measured in the fish toxicity assay system. Thus simple quantitative structure‐activity relationships (QSARs), using solely log Kow with an appropriate set of compounds and bioassay systems, are useful not only for predicting the environmental toxicity of nonspecific toxicants and specific toxicants, including their mechanism of action, but also for assessment of their biodegradability.
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