Liquid-liquid equilibrium data for the ternary systems nicotine+ water+ cyclohexane and nicotine + water+ 1-butanol were measured at 298.15, 303.15 and 313.15 K. The results show that cyclohexane is better than 1-butanol as a solvent for nicotine extraction. The experimental data were correlated through the well-known NRTL and UNIQUAC models for the activity coefficient, with estimation of new interaction energy parameters, using the simplex minimization method and a composition-based objective function. The results, analyzed in terms of root mean square deviations between experimental and calculated compositions, were considered satisfactory, with NRTL yielding a better representation of the equilibrium data for the studied systems. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.