The acute oral toxicity and primary ocular and dermal irritation of selected N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidones.

N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidones are a class of materials that are increasingly used in food, drug, cosmetic and industrial applications; however, toxicological data is only available for a few members of the class. The acute oral toxicity, primary dermal irritation and primary ocular irritation of N-methyl-, N-ethyl-, N-hydroxyethyl-, N-isopropyl-, N-cyclohexyl-, N-octyl-, N-dodecyl-, N-coco- and N-tallow-2-pyrrolidone are reported. Additionally, N-octyl-, N-decyl-, N-dodecyl-, N-tetradecyl-, N-hexadecyl- and N-octadecyl-2-pyrrolidone had the primary ocular and dermal irritation indices measured as a 2% aqueous suspension. These data show a wide range of toxicities dependent upon the alkyl substituent.