Benzo[a]pyrene bay-region sulfonates, a novel class of reactive intermediates

The mutagenicity of 7r,8t-dihydroxy-9t,10t-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (anti-BPDE) toward Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 is enhanced by over 1.5-fold by the addition of 1-10 mM sulfite to the incubations. Sulfite itself is neither mutagenic nor toxic to the bacteria under these conditions. Analysis of anti-BPDE-derived products from these bacterial incubations demonstrates that, in addition to the expected hydrolysis products of the epoxide, novel more polar metabolites are produced. These same more polar compounds are produced by the addition of anti-BPDE to buffered aqueous solutions of sulfite. The major product of this reaction has been characterized by UV/visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, NI-FAB mass spectrometry, and proton NMR spectroscopy and is identified as 7,8,9-trihydroxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene-10-sulfonate (BPT-10-sulfonate). This derivative is formed by the nucleophilic addition of sulfite to the 9,10-oxirane ring of anti-BPDE. This product is easily differentiated both spectrally and chromatographically from the isomeric 7,8,10-trihydroxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene-9-sulfonate reported from the attack of the sulfite anion radical on the activated aliphatic double bond of 7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BP-7,8-diol) [Curtis et al. (1988) Carcinogenesis 9, 2015]. The nucleophilic trapping of diol epoxides by water or thiols is assumed to represent a detoxication of this class of mutagen. In contrast, the extensive conversion of anti-BPDE to BPT-10-sulfonate in the bacterial incubations correlates with a marked enhancement of resultant mutagenicity. Further support for a key role of BPT-10 sulfonate in the enhancement of anti-BPDE mutagenicity is provided by our findings on the reactivity of this compounds.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)