The partition coefficients of 14 aliphatic nitrosamines were measured in six water-organic solvent systems. Correlations between Hansch's hydrophobic parameter (pi) and Kier and Hall's topological index (1 chi) allowed pi to be substituted by 1 chi in the structure-activity correlations of the carcinogenicity data of the nitrosamines studied. The use of high-performance liquid chromatographic capacity factors of nitrosamines in these correlations is also discussed.