Predicted toxicities of aryl alkanols and related compounds

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Abstract
The relative toxicity of selected aryl and/or alkyl alcohols was evaluated in the batch culture Tetrahymena pyriformis population‐growth impairment assay. Chemicals evaluated included normal and branched primary alcohols with mono‐, bi‐ or diaromatic substituents as well as aryl‐substituted ethers. Log 1‐octanol/water partition coefficients (log Kow) along with previously developed quantitative structure‐activity relationships (QSARs) for both the non‐polar narcosis and polar narcosis mechanism of action were used to predict relative toxicity. Observed and predicted toxicities measured as log IGC50−1 were compared. All phenols and naphthylsubstituted compounds, as well as the biphenyl methanols, benzhydrols and 1,1‐diphenylethanol, model more accurately as polar narcotics. Both monoaromatic‐ and diaromatic‐substituted branched arylalkyl alcohols, as well as monoaromatic ethers, model best as non‐polar narcotics. The C1‐C6 straight‐chain aryl alkanols, as well as 3‐phenyl‐1‐butanol, model intermediately between non‐polar and polar narcosis. The triaromaticsubstituted alcohol was not toxic at saturation. These findings are consistent with the idea that narcosis, the reversible state of arrested bioactivity, is a series of mechanisms.