title: Mutagenicity of quaternary ammonium salts containing carbohydrate moieties.
abstract: Quaternary ammonium salts are widely used in industrial, agricultural, healthcare and domestic applications. They are believed to be safe compounds, with little or no health hazard to humans. However, in this report, we demonstrate that a series of newly synthesized quaternary ammonium salts containing carbohydrate moieties reveal potent mutagenic activities, as assessed by using the Vibrio harveyi bioluminescence mutagenicity test. D-Gluco- and D-galacto-derivatives were found to have a higher mutagenic potential than D-manno-derivatives. Among the former groups of compounds, the N-[2-(D-glycopyranosyloxy)ethyl]-N,N,N-trimethylaminium salts were of the highest activity in the mutagenicity assay. These results suggest that the safety of quaternary ammonium salts may be lower than previously supposed, indicating a need for testing such compounds for their mutagenicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Carbohydrate Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Sobieskiego 18, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dmochowska
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piosik
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Woziwodzka
authors.forename: Karol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sikora
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wiśniewski
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Węgrzyn
mesh_terms: D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014733:Vibrio / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D009153:Mutagens; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds