The contribution of the CH, group to the solution thermodynamics of drug molecules is dependent on whether it is attached to a ring system or is in the terminal position in an aliphatic chain. In the former case group contributions for CH, are very similar to those found for the CH2 group. For instance, in partition, the CH, group contribution (log FCH,) is in the range 0.65 to 0.28 (AG = 2.303 RT log FCHJ and is dependent on the polarity of the organic solvent. The contribution for the terminal aliphatic CH, is not equivalent to the mid chain CH, and a CH, correction factor or 1.14 to 1.34 kcal mol-l (4.77 to 5.61 kJ mol-l), has been calculated from alkane solubility data and partition studies. The additivity of group contributions and the correct choice of reference state are also discussed.Davis, Higuchi & Rytting (1972) have previously showed that the methylene group contribution to the thermodynamics of solutions of drug molecules could be obtained from activity coefficients, Henry's law constants and partition coefficient data. The free energy of transfer of the CH, group from water to organic solvent ranged from -850 to -450 cal mol-1 (1 cal mol-l = 4.186 kJ mol-l) depending on the nature of the solvent and differences in group values could be rationalized in terms of solvent polarity. In this paper the methyl group is considered.Many authors have assumed that the CH, and CH, contributions are identical (Hansch & Anderson, 1967;Kakovsky, 1957; Hersh, 1971). So that for an alkanol (CnH2n + ,OH)