Effect of Alkoxy Substituents on the Mutagenicity of Some Phenylenediamine-Based Disazo Dyes

摘要

Sixteen phenylenediamine-based disazo dyes were examined in the Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay with strains TA98, TA100, and TA1538. All of the dyes contain an alkoxy group ortho to one of the azo linkages. Increasing the size of this alkoxy substituent from one to four carbons led to a decrease in mutagenic activity in certain instances while no change was noted in other cases. Comparison of the mutagenicity of the disazo dyes with their potential reductive-cleavage products suggests that (1) the reductive-cleavage products are not solely responsible for the mutagenicity of the disazo dyes, and (2) significant reductive-cleavage of the disazo dyes is not taking place in the standard Salmonella assay. (Copyright (c) 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division).)