Selective toxicity of 1,2-dichloro-4,5-diaminobenzene: its relation to requirements for riboflavin and vitamin B12.

In a series of 26 species selected from widely differing classes, 1,2-dichloro-4,5-diaminobenzene was toxic to those which did not exhibit a nutritional need for riboflavin plus vitamin B(12). It failed to retard the growth of those which needed both of these vitamins. The compound was conceived as an antimetabolite of 1,2-dimethyl-4,5-diaminobenzene. This latter, which is contained within the structures of the two vitamins, was pictured as a metabolic precursor of them. It was found to have very slight activity as either riboflavin or as vitamin B(12) for lactic acid bacteria and algae. The growth-inhibiting action of the dichlorodiaminobenzene was overcome competitively by the dimethyidiaminobenzene, and also, to a lesser extent, by o-phenylenediamine. The toxicity was not influenced by additions of riboflavin plus vitamin B(12), except in the cases of two species, where the influence was slight. These facts were considered to support the idea that properly constructed analogs of a precursor of two or more essential participants in cell division may be able to circumvent the counteraction which the vitamin has been found to exert on an antimetabolite of its precursor. Alternate explanations of the observed data were likewise considered.