Evaluation of dermal irritancy potential of benzanthrone-derived dye analogs: Structure activity relationship

The twelve structural analogs of benzanthrone-derived dyes of commercial us e were screened for their dermal irritation potential response using the Dr aize occlusive patch test. The test dyes, dissolved in DMSO as vehicle, wer e topically applied on the skin of the male Druckery rats (160 +/- 10 g) ac cording to the OECD protocol. The potential dermal hazard was assessed in t erms of the primary cutaneous irritation (PCI) index and irritancy. Irritan cy was evaluated according to the AFNOR scale. In terms of irritancy, the t welve benzanthrone dyes qualified as moderately irritant (3.0-5.0) accordin g to the above scale. in decreasing order, PCI index of the various dyes wa s: Navy Blue R (4.5); Jade Green XBN (4.25); 16, 17-dihydroxydibenzanthrone (3.84); Black NE (3.75), Jade Green 2G (3.75); 3-bromobenzanthrone (3.58); Brilliant Purple 4R (3.58); Olive D (3.50); Dark Blue 2R (3.41); Olive Gre en B (3.33); isodibenzanthrone (3.33), and benzanthrone (3.16). These resul ts indicate that benzanthrone-derived dyes/dye intermediates caused dermal toxicity which appears to be influenced by the number of carbonyl and amino -anthraquinone groups as well as by the presence of functional groups like halogen, nitro, hydroxy and methoxy in the parent molecule, benzanthrone. C opyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG. Basel.