The growth inhibitory and lethal effects of ethanol on Escherichia coli BB were investigated in batch cultures, by measuring total cell number, viable cell number, and cell mass concentration. Ethanol below ca. 50 g/L allowed exponential growth but depressed the specific growth rate. The effect of ethanol on the specific growth rate appeared to follow noncompetitive inhibition kinetics with apparently cooperative binding with a Hill coefficient of 2. 5. The Hill coefficient and the inhibition constant were temperature independent over the range tested. Ethanol at 30 g/L decreased the growth yield. Isopropanol and and propanol also enhanced the specific death rate exponentially and the degree of enhancement was correlated with their membrane-buffer partition coefficients.