I looked up distribution coefficient on the internet but I am having some trouble understanding it for the liquid-liquid extraction. Do you have a simple definition? and then how do you calculate it? Then when you know K what does it mean to have a large K versus a small K? (The distribution coefficient is the ratio of concentrations of a compound in different phases. If it significantly differs from 1, than most of the compound went to one phase. If it is about 1, the concentrations are equal. The more different the distribution coefficients are for different compounds, the better the separation is. - GS).