Polarographic testing of carcinogenicity of some chemotherapeutics

This work is devoted to the study of polarographic reduction of three antibiotic compounds including adriamycin, chloramphenicol and erythromycin and of a synthetic antibacterial chemotherapeutic compound--5-nitrofurantoin. The polarographic reduction was performed in the strictly anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide with or without alpha-lipoic acid (LA) by the means of DC polarography. The values of half-wave potentials E1/2 and parameter of potential carcinogenicity were determined for the all compounds. Adriamycin was reduced during the five-step process, other compounds were reduced in two steps. The presence of LA in a polarographic solution resulted in a new polarographic one-electron wave in the range of -1.120 V to -1.790 V vs. SCE possessing a diffuse and reversible character. Its height is linearly dependent on the LA concentration in solution. The highest parameter of potential carcinogenicity tg alpha was determined for adriamycin (0.575) which belongs among compounds classified by WHO as "probably carcinogenic to humans". The lowest determined value of parameter tg alpha belonged to 5-nitrofurantoin (0.290) which has not yet been included into the IARC classification.