The comparative mutagenicities of hydrazine and its mono- and di-methyl derivatives in bacterial test systems.

The mutagenic properties of hydrazine and its mono- and di-methyl derivatives were compared by direct microbial tests with the tryptophan auxotroph Escherichia coli as indicator organism. The methyl- and dimethyl-hydrazine were also tested with metabolic activation both by the Ames plate test and by the host-mediated assay with the histidine auxotroph Salmonella typhimurium tester strains. Only hydrazine and methylhydrazine were mutagenic in direct tests, hydrazine being a far more potent mutagen that methylhydrazine. Neither methylhydrazine nor dimethylhydrazines gave positive results in the Ames tests. In host-mediated assays, symmetrical dimethylhydrazine was clearly mutagenic, whereas methylhydrazine showed marginal mutagenic activity, and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine was negative. Evidently the mutagenic actions of different hydrazine derivatives, though these compounds are chemically closely related, depend on different reaction mechanisms.