A 7-hydroxymethyl sulfate ester as an active metabolite of 7,12-dimethylbenz[alpha]anthracene

7-Hydroxymethyl-12-methylbenz[alpha]anthracene (7-HMBA), a carcinogenic major metabolite of 7,12-dimethylbenz[alpha]anthracene (DMBA) in liver, was transformed by liver cytosolic sulfotransferase to reactive 7-HMBA sulfate, which is mutagenic toward Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98. The mutagenicity of 7-HMBA in the presence of hepatic sulfotransferase was much higher than that of DMBA or 7-HMBA in the presence of hepatic monooxygenase.