THE INFLUENCE OF THE P-ALKYL SUBSTITUENT ON THE ISOMERIZATION OF O-QUINONES TO P-QUINONE METHIDES - POTENTIAL BIOACTIVATION MECHANISM FOR CATECHOLS

Previously, we have shown that an additional bioactivation pathway for the hepatocarcinogen safrole (1-allyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)benzene) exists which may contribute to its toxic effects: initial O-dealkylation of the methylenedioxy ring, forming the catechol, hydroxychavicol (HC, 1-allyl-3,4-dihydroxybenzene), 2-electron oxidation to the o-quinone (4-allyl-3,5-cyclohexadien-1,2-dione), and isomerization, forming the more electrophilic p-quinone methide (2-hydroxy-4-allylidene-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-one) [Bolton, J. L., Acay, N. M., and Vukomanovic, V. (1994) Chem. Res. Toxicol. 7, 443-450]. In the present investigation, we explored the effects of changing pi-conjugation at the 4-position an both the rate of isomerization of the initially formed o-quinones to the QMs and the reactivity of the quinoids formed from 4-propylcatechol (1), 2,3-dihydroxy-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthal (2), and 4-cinnamylcatechol (3). We selectively oxidized the catechols to the corresponding o-quinones or p-quinone methides and trapped these reactive electrophiles with glutathione (GSH). The GSH adducts were fully characterized by UV, NMR, and mass spectrometry. Microsomal incubations with the parent catechols in the presence of glutathione produced only o-quinone glutathione conjugates. However, if the trapping agent (GSH) was added after an initial incubation time, both o-quinone and p-quinone methide GSH conjugates were observed. The results indicate that extended pi-conjugation at the para position enhances the rate of isomerization of the o-quinone to the quinone methide. Thus the half-life of the o-quinones decreased in the following order: the o-quinone of 1 > 2 > HC > 3. In support of this, AMI semiempirical calculations also showed the same trend: an increase in stability of the quinone methide relative to the o-quinone with extending pi-conjugation at the 4-position. Finally, kinetic studies showed that the reactivity of the quinone methides with water increases with decreasing pi-conjugation. These data provide further evidence that formation of these electrophilic quinone methides from o-quinones may be a general bioactivation pathway for synthetic and naturally occurring 4-alkylcatechols.