Mutagenic characterization of synthetic fuel materials by the Ames/Salmonella assay system.

Solvent refined coal (SRC) distillates produced by 2 different pilot plant processes were compared for mutagenicity using the Ames/salmonella assay. The high-molecular-weight, high-boiling SRC distillates were fractionated into their various constituent chemical classes for Ames analysis. In each case, the major portion of the mutagenic activity contained in the crude materials was recovered in the basic and in the tar fractions. Little or no activity was found in the neutral. aliphatic, or neutral polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-enriched fractions. The most active of the SRC subfractions were comparable in mutagenicity to benzo[a]pyrene, but substantially less active than 2-aminoanthracene.