Molecular structure and aquatic toxicity — An example with C1 - C13 aliphatic alcohols

Abstract The acute aquatic toxicity of a series of primary aliphatic alcohols (C 1 - C 13 ) has been tested on the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes , Boeck, and the bleak, Alburnus alburnus L. The results showed that the toxicity was highly correlated to the number of carbon atoms, ie increasing toxicity with increasing number of carbons. The results are discussed in relation to interspecies differences in sensitivity, correlations between hydrophobicity (log P ow ) and toxicity, and the use of solvents in bioassays.