There are conflicting results on the mutagenicity of toluenediisocyanate (TDI) and diphenylmethanediisocyanate (MDI). It was found that the organic solvent chosen to dissolve the compounds dictates the outcome of the bacterial tests. The Salmonella/microsome tests showed uniformly mutagenic effects for all the compounds that were predissolved in DMSO. Due to the instability of aromatic diisocyanates in DMSO this solvent was replaced by ethyleneglycoldimethylether (EGDE). TDI and MDI endured the dissolving and were therefore still available for the subsequent bacterial tests. Furthermore, no aromatic diamines (TDA or MDA) could be detected in EGDE prior to the start of the assays. The Salmonella/microsome tests, however, revealed unexpected differences between TDI and MDI. As previously published the four types of MDI showed negative results, whereas the data presented in this paper demonstrated mutagenic effects of all three types of TDI if EGDE is the solvent. To gain deeper insight into the chemical changes that occurred during the Salmonella/microsome test, the possible reactions were modelled in the laboratory by mixing predissolved diisocyanates with a defined surplus of water and monitoring the progress of the chemical reactions by analytical methods. Additionally, the quality of the model was checked by exposing solutions of 2,6-TDI and 4,4'-MDI to the real biological test environment. In both cases, the reaction patterns of TDI were different to those of MDI. Within 1 min, which is the maximum time needed to mix the predissolved compounds with water before they are poured onto the agar plate, the TDI content was reduced in favour of different ureas and TDA. In addition water was replaced by the complete set of test ingredients. While the TDA content remained more or less constant, the amount of residual TDI was reduced considerably. Reactions of MDI were markedly slower than those of TDI. More than 90% of the predissolved MDI remained intact when it was mixed with water. The biological test ingredients accelerated the reduction of the MDI content. Within 45 s, more than two thirds of the MDI disappeared. Evidently, the chemical reactions continue during incubation. It is assumed that the contrasting results of TDI and MDI in the Salmonella/microsome test are due to the different reaction patterns-and reaction products-of the predissolved diisocyanates created under the specific conditions of the test. These findings indicate that the chemical interactions between reactive test compounds and solvents or test media need to be considered in the interpretation of the relevance of test results.
Copyright 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.