Excretion of metabolites of hexachlorobenzene in the rat and in man.

From the urine of rats treated with hexachlorobenzene (HCB), 21 metabolites were separated by capillary gas chromatography. Sulfur-containing metabolites were present in larger numbers and greater amounts than phenolic compounds. In studies on the origin of pentachlorophenol in man, HCB was determined in adipose tissue and pentachlorophenol in urine, and in 48 out of 60 females, 80-90% of the daily urinary pentachlorophenol appeared to be formed from HCB.