Bioactivation of halogenated hydrocarbons.

Halogenated hydrocarbons are an economically and toxicologically important group of chemicals. These compounds may produce toxic effects after metabolism to stable, but toxic, products or to reactive, electrophilic intermediates. The biotransformation reaction may involve oxidative or reductive reactions or may proceed with no change in oxidation state. The bioactivation reactions are catalyzed most frequently by cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenases, but glutathione S-transferases may also catalyze bioactivation reactions. Detailed reaction mechanism studies are useful in understanding the biotransformation and bioactivation pathways of halogenated hydrocarbons.