Structure-activity relationships for unsaturated dialdehydes. 3. Mutagenic, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and phytotoxic activities of merulidial derivatives.

The mutagenic activity in the Ames' Salmonella assay, the antimicrobial activities against bacteria, fungi, and algae, the cytotoxic activities against Ehrlich ascitic tumor cells and L1210 cells, and the phytotoxic activities against Lepidium sativum and Setaria italica, of the unsaturated dialdehyde merulidial and six acetylated, hydroxylated, and cyclopropane ring isomerized derivatives of merulidial, are compared. Some possible structure-activity relationships are discussed.