RELATION BETWEEN MUTAGENIC ACTIVITY AND C HEMICAL-STRUCTURE IN A SERIES OF BIPHENYL DERIVATIVES

A comparative study of the mutagenic activity of 21 derivatives of bip henyl was performed in the strain TA1538 of Salmonella typhimurium. Th e position effect of carboxyl, amide, aldehyde, and ether groups was e xamined. The para position of substituents, among which at least one i s a nitro group, causes mutagenic activity in most of the molecules st udied. Derivatives of biphenyl that have no substituents in the para p osition were inactive. In addition, 4-nitrobiphenyl (4-NBP), 4-nitro-2 '-carboxy biphenyl (4-N-2'-C-BP), 4,4'-dinitro-2'-carboxy biphenyl (4- 4'-DN-2'-C-BP), and 4,4'-dinitro-2,2'-carboxy biphenyl (4-4'-DN-2,2'-D C-BP) induced no frameshift mutations in TA1538. The most active was 2 ,4,2',4'-TN-6-C-6'-Ad-BP, giving up to 800 revertants per nmol; 2,4,6, 2'-TN-4',6'-DC-BP and 2,4,4'-TN-2'-C-BP, which induced 250 and 350 rev ertants per nmol, respectively, were highly active frameshift mutagens .