The levo enantiomer of o,p'-DDT inhibits the binding of 17 beta-estradiol to the estrogen receptor.

It has been discovered previously that the known estrogenic activity of o,p'-DDT resides with the levo enantiomer. Since it has been presumed that this relatively weak estrogenic activity of o,p'-DDT is mediated by the estrogen receptor, the ability of the resolved enantiomeric forms of o,p'-DDT to inhibit the binding of 17 beta-estradiol to the receptor was investigated. Competitive binding assays including the use of double-reciprocal plots and sucrose gradient analyses revealed that the levo and not the dextro enantiomer could inhibit the estradiol binding to the estrogen receptor. Thus the in vivo estrogenic activity of levo o,p'-DDT correlates with its apparent ability to interact with the estrogen receptor.