Some historical aspects of N-aryl carcinogens and their metabolic activation

This limited review of the early studies on the activation of the N-aryl carcinogens was written to provide a background for the current research to be presented at this conference on carcinogenesis by N-aryl compounds. Since the work of the past 10 years is too recent to be judged in a historical sense and because those data are much better known by current investigators, this review is generally limited to data up to 1972.