title: The biological and toxicological activity of gases and vapors.
abstract: A large amount of data on the biological and toxicological activity of gases and vapors has been collected from the literature. Processes include sensory irritation thresholds, the Alarie mouse test, inhalation anesthesia, etc. It is shown that a single equation using only five descriptors (properties of the gases and vapors) plus a set of indicator variables for the given processes can correlate 643 biological and non-lethal toxicological activities of 'non-reactive' compounds with a standard deviation of 0.36 log unit. The equation is scaled to sensory irritation thresholds obtained by the procedure of Cometto-Muñiz, and Cain provides a general equation for the prediction of sensory irritation thresholds in man. It is suggested that differences in biological/toxicological activity arise primarily from transport from the gas phase to a receptor phase or area, except for odor detection thresholds where interaction with a receptor(s) is important.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H OAJ, UK. m.h.abraham@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Moreno
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gil-Lostes
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Acree
authors.forename: J Enrique
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cometto-Muñiz
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Cain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced; D005740:Gases / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds