Superoxide chemical transformation of diolepoxide polyaromatic hydrocarbon DNA adducts. Determination of benzo[a]pyrene-r-7,t-8,9,c-10-tetrahydrotetrol by gas chromatography.

Benzo[a]pyrene-r-7,t-8,9,c-10-tetrahydrotetrol (100 pg, 342 fmol) was measured using the following sequence of steps: (1) chemical transformation with potassium superoxide to 2,3-pyrenedicarboxylic acid; (2) electrophore derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl bromide; (3) sample clean-up by high-performance liquid chromatography and (4) measurement by gas chromatography with electron-capture detection and by gas chromatography with electron-capture negative-ion mass spectrometry. The overall, absolute yields obtained by the two procedures were 69% and 60%, respectively. This work completes the first stage towards the establishment of a general method for detecting diolepoxide polyaromatic hydrocarbon DNA adducts by gas chromatography.