Reactions of alpha-acetoxy-N-nitrosopyrrolidine and crotonaldehyde with DNA.

alpha-Acetoxy-N-nitrosopyrrolidine (alpha-acetoxyNPYR) is a stable precursor to alpha-hydroxyNPYR, the initial product of metabolism and proposed proximate carcinogen of NPYR. Crotonaldehyde (2-butenal) is a metabolite of NPYR and also a mutagen and carcinogen. Both alpha-acetoxyNPYR and crotonaldehyde are known to form DNA adducts, but these reactions have not been completely characterized. In previous studies, we detected substantial amounts of unidentified radioactivity in hydrolysates of DNA that had been reacted with radiolabelled alpha-acetoxyNPYR. We have now characterized these products as 2-hydroxytetrahydrofuran, the cyclic form of 4-hydroxybutanal, and paraldol, the dimer of 3-hydroxybutanal. They were characterized by comparison with standards and by comparison of their derived 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones with standards. [3H]H2O was also identified. 2-Hydroxytetrahydrofuran is the major product in neutral thermal hydrolysates of alpha-acetoxyNPYR-treated DNA and is derived predominantly from N2-(tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)deoxyguanosine 8. Paraldol is present to a lesser extent than 2-hydroxytetrahydrofuran in these reactions and is formed from paraldol-releasing adducts, which in turn are produced by the reaction of crotonaldehyde or paraldol, solvolysis products of alpha-acetoxyNPYR, with DNA. Paraldol is a major product in hydrolysates of crotonaldehyde-treated DNA, being present in amounts 100 times greater than those of previously identified adducts. These results provide a more complete picture of the reactions of alpha-acetoxyNPYR with DNA and yield some new insights on possible endogenous DNA adducts formed from crotonaldehyde.