MUTAGENICITY OF HALOGENATED AND OXYGENATED 3-CARBON COMPOUNDS

Four structurally related three-carbon compounds, known for their antifertiUty activity In the male, and the brominated derivatives of two of these compounds were tested for mutagenic activity by the Salmonella typhlmurlum test of Ames et al. In the presence of strain TA-100, a base-pair substitution detector strain, 1,2-dibromo-3- chloropropane (DBCP), was the most active compound tested but required enzymatic conversion by S9 microsomal preparation to an active mutagen. Three of these compounds containing an epoxide group-epichiorohydrin, epibromohydrin, and glycldol-were highly active direct mutagens, not requiring S9 for activation, a- Chlorohydrln was the least active compound tested; u-bromohydrln was 40 times more active than its chlorinated analog. Epibromohydrin was only slightly more active than eplchlorohydrin, but both were highly active. With both of the hatogenated epoxides, S9 preparation caused a substantial decrease in mutagenic activity at every concentration tested. AH six compounds showed dose-related responsiveness for the base-pair substitution detector strains used. However, they were relatively inactive against the frameshlft detector strain of S. typhlmurium, TA-98. Glycerol, propylene glycol, and n-propanol, which are also three-carbon compounds containing one or more hydroxy groups, were inactive when tested at high concentrations with strain TA-100. © 1979 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.