Structure-activity relationships of the N-methylcarbamate series in Salmonella typhimurium.

Aromatic hydrocarbons of low molecular weight, hydroxy and N-methylcarbamate derivatives were tested for mutagenicity by the reversion of histidine-dependent Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA1535 in the presence of a rat-liver 9000 × g supernatant fraction. The presence of 2 or 3 aromatic rings resulted in a weak increase in revertants. Hydroxylation and carbamylation of aromatic rings increased the mutagenic activity of these aromatic compounds. In order to evaluate the structure-activity relationship, the specific molecular connectivity indices were calculated. A significant inverse relationship exist between mutagenicity and zero- and second-order specific molecular connectivity indices. Only compounds with second-order specific molecular connectivity indices lower than 0.300 increased mutagenic activity