Relative concentrations of polyaromatic primary amines and azaarenes in mutagenically active nitrogen fractions from a coal liquid.

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was used to separate components in the basic and tar fractions of solvent refined coal (SRC-I) process solvent (PS) to obtain materials suitable for biological and chemical analysis. Those fractions eluted from TLC plates which were mutagenically active in the Ames/Salmonella assay were analyzed by gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GCMS) for polycyclic azaarenes, polyaromatic primary amines (PAA) and carbazoles. In all materials tested, a strong correlation was observed between the concentration of PAAs in a given TLC region and the mutagenicity of that region in the Ames assay system. Conversely, azaarenes having 2--4 fused rings and carbazoles were present in both mutagenic and non-mutagenic TLC eluates. No PAAs were detected in mutagenically inactive TLC eluates. In comparison to the mutagenic tar fractions, the PS basic fraction contained relatively larger concentrations of 2- and 3-ringed components such as aminonaphthalenes and aminoanthracenes or aminophenanthrenes. The tar fractions, which were essentially devoid of aminonaphthalenes, had a higher average molecular weight and contained relatively higher concentrations of aminopyrenes.