Short communication MUTAGENIC ACTIVITY OF SOME CENTRALLY ACTIVE AROMATIC AMINES IN SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM *

Safrole (4-allyl-l,2-methylenedioxybenzene), a natural product present in some foods, is a hepatocarcinogen in rats and mice [12]. The derivatives l '-hydroxysafrole and l'-acetoxysafrole are also hepatocarcinogens i these species and the latter compound is mutagenic in the Salmonella/microsome test system [10--12]. Several methylenedioxyphenyl compounds are used as syner-gists for insecticides [8] ; other derivatives have been useful in studies of struc-ture-activity relationships among psychotropic drugs [17,19]. The purpose of the present study was to test a series of methylenedioxyphenyl compounds and structurally related, centrally-active aromatic amines for mutagenicity in the Salmonella/microsome system. The names, chemical structures and sources of the compounds tested are listed in Table 1. The compounds listed in Table 1 are either centrally-active amines, or precursors, metabolites or analogs of centrally-active amines. Each compound was pure by the criteria of melting point and elemental analysis. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, spectrophotometric grade) was purchased from Schwarz/Mann. All other chemical were reagent grade