Chemical basis for photomutagenicity in synthetic fuels and correlation with carcinogenicity

Photomutagens (chemicals that enhance the mutagenicity of non-ionizing radiation) have been detected in experimental coal- and oil shale-derived synthetic fuel samples using Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 and fluorescent light. In this study, photomutagenic activity was measured among distillation and chemical class fractions from a blend of direct coal liquefaction process materials. Photomutagenicity increased with increasing boiling point and was concentrated in fractions enriched in neutral polycyclic aromatic compounds (neutral PACs). The photomutagenic activities of the materials tested correlate well with the previously reported tumorigenic activities of the same samples on mouse skin, but correlate poorly with the previously reported mutagenic activities of the same samples in the Salmonella/mammalian-microsome test (using strain TA98), in which neutral PAC-enriched fractions were not active. These data suggest that relatively high boiling neutral PACs are important chemical photomutagens in synthetic fuels and suggest the potential use of the photomutation assay as an improved, relatively simple, inexpensive and short-term bioassay for detecting carcinogens as mutagens in complex mixtures such as synthetic fuels.