Among five mutagenic compounds isolated from water samples, takenat sites below thesewage plants of the Nishitakase River in Kyoto, Japan, the structureof compound
I has beendetermined to be2-[2-(acetylamino)-4-[bis(2-methoxyethyl)amino]-5-methoxyphenyl]-5-amino-7-bromo-4-chloro-2
H-benzotriazole (PBTA-1). Since thisnovel aromatic amine mutagen hascharacteristic substituents in its molecule, it is postulated that theazo dye, 2-[(2-bromo-4,6-dinitrophenyl)azo]-4-methoxy-5-[bis(2-methoxyethyl)amino]acetoanilide(AZO DYE-1), used asan industrial material, is converted to the corresponding2-phenylbenzotriazole derivative witha reducing reagent and subsequently to PBTA-1 by chlorination. Infact, AZO DYE-1 changedto the dechlorinated derivative of PBTA-1 (deClPBTA-1) on treatmentwith sodium hydrosulfite,and this reacted with sodium hypochlorite to produce PBTA-1.Moreover, the presence ofdeClPBTA-1 was confirmed in a river water sample, along with PBTA-1.PBTA-1 showedpotent mutagenic activities in
Salmonella typhimurium TA98and YG1024, inducing 88 000and 3 000 000 revertants, respectively, per
g, with S9 mix.deClPBTA-1 was also mutagenic,but less potent. From these observations, it is suggested thatPBTA-1 is produced from AZODYE-1 through deClPBTA-1, during industrial processes at dyeingfactories and the treatmentof wastewater at sewage plants.