Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Cyclopenta(c,d)pyrene: a highly mutahgenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

Journal Article · · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States)
A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon recently isolated from carbon black and identified as cyclopenta(c,d)-pyrene (CPP) is highly mutagenic. By the criteria of the Salmonella/mammalian-microsome mutagenicity test, the mutagenic potency of CPP is equalled by only two other naturally occurring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--benzo(a)pyrene and dibenz(a,c)anthracene. The potent mutagenicity of CPP is noteworthy for two reasons: (i) CPP is a mutagenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon without a ''bay-region'' and (ii) there is evidence that it is distributed widely in the environment. On the basis of experimental observations and perturbational molecular orbital calculations we propose that a mutagenic metabolite of CPP will be the 3,4-oxide. The carbonium ion derived from opening of CPP 3,4-oxide is identical to that derived from opening of benzo(a)pyrene 7,8-diol-9,10-oxide, the metabolite now thought to be an ultimate mutagenic and carcinogenic species.
Research Organization:
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston
OSTI ID:
6787150
Journal Information:
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States), Journal Name: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States) Vol. 75:4; ISSN PNASA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English