Water/gas partition coefficients have been determined for hydrocarbons and chlorinated derivatives of hydrocarbons. In this paper a graphical method based on a static headspace gas chromatography technique is described. This technique relies on the linear dependence of the phase volume ratio in the vial and the ratio of the concentration of the solute in two phases. The partition coefficients were determined at four temperatures ranging from 10 to 25 degreesC. The temperature dependence of the partition coefficients is described by the classical van't Hoff equation. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.