Mutagenicity of a series of hexacoordinate chromium (III) compounds.

17 chromium(III) compounds have been tested for DNA-damaging capabilities using an E. coli differential repair assay and for mutagenicity in strains of Salmonella typhimurium. 4 of these compounds were active in both assays. Another 4 compounds were positive only in the repair assay and 9 were devoid of activity in both assays. Most of the doubly active complexes contain aromatic amine ligands like 2,2'-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline. Closely related complexes of ligands derived from saturated amines are much less active. It appears that chromium(III) in the proper ligand environment can have considerable genetic toxicity and could represent one of the several possible ultimate species in a mechanism for chromium mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.