I have been trying to research the McGowan characteristic volume and how it pertains to retention in reverse-phase LC, but Google has not been much help so far. If anyone could help me to understand what the McGowan characteristic volume is, and how it is calculated for a particular compound, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

David

McGowan, J.C., 1956, Molecular Volumes and Structural Chemistry: Recueil des travaux chimiques des Pays-Bas., v. 75, p. 193-208.

McGowan J.C., 1978, Estimates of the Properties of Liquids: Journal of Applied Biotechnology, v. 28, p. 599-607.

McGowan, J.C., Ahmad, P., and Mellors, A., 1979, The Estimation of Partition Coefficients of Steroids between Water and Ether: Canadian Journal of Pharmacological Science, v. 14, p. 72-74.

I have never looked at it closely, but I always understood the McGowan characteristic volume to be a molecular volume that can be calculated from a molecular structure, atoms and bond lengths. Numerous chemical structure programs will calculate it for you.

Look up Linear Solvation Energy Relationship to see how it has been applied to solvation and chromatography. Also generalized to QSAR to try and predict pharmacologic effects.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/~abcwww/gjsalter/solv15.htm?cfC0A89682=VEhFUkFWQU5DRVxUTWl6dWthbWk6dGhlcmF2YW5jZToCbhFhAv8y+tvkDPsrzeJQ

Thank you Tom, all of this was very helpful.

-David