Radical toxicity of phenols: a reference point for obtaining perspective in the formulation of QSAR.

In this report we discuss some of the surprising ways phenols interact in vivo and how some of their toxic activity can be understood in terms of QSAR and in fact can be related via electronic terms to be similar to processes of simple chemical reactions. A simple two-term QSAR is found to be a good predictor of estrogenic toxicity. However, it is also shown that even the simplest of phenols can yield quite unexpected results than can be elucidated via QSAR. We still have a long way to go before we can predict under what conditions a phenol will produce toxic effects such as cancer and how much phytophenols one can consume before reaping a toxic reaction.