The effects of nitrous acid on the mutagenicity of two coal liquids and their genetically active chemical fractions

Abstract

The Ames/Salmonella assay was used to determine the effect of nitrous acid on the mutagenicity of solvent refined coal (SRC) distillates and distillate fractions. The SRC materials consisted of the higher-molecular-weight, high-boiling distillates, the process solvent (PS) and heavy distillate (HD), and also included the basic tar and neutral tar chemical fractions derived from these 2 distillates. Nitrosation products of each of the SRC materials were less mutagenic than the distillates or distillate fractions from which they were derived (untreated materials); in most cases they were less than 10% as mutagenic as that observed in the starting materials. The mutagenicity of the SRC materials after nitrous acid treatment was directacting, whereas all mutagenicity associated with the untreated SRC materials was indirect and required metabolic activation for expression in the Ames assay system. © 1981.