Metabolism of 1,2,3,4‐, 1,2,3,5‐, and 1,2,4,5‐tetrachlorobenzene in the rat

Abstract

Adult male rats wer given orally single doses of 14C-labeled 1,2,3,4-, 1,2,3,5- or 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene (TCB) at 10 mg/kg body wt, and were housed in individual metabolism cages to collect urine and feces for radioassay. For 1,2,3,4- and 1,2,3,5-TCB, .apprx. 46-51% of the doses were excreted in urine and feces within 48 h after administration. During the same period only 8% of the administered 1,2,4,5-TCB was excreted. Analysis of urine indicted that the TCB were biotransformed to polar compounds. The metabolites for each of the 3 TCB in decreasing order of quantities were: 1,2,3,4-TCB, to 2,3,4,5- and 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol and a trace of tetrachlorothiophenol and 2,3,4-trichlorophenol; 1,2,3,5-TCB, to 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, isomeric hydroxythrichlorothiophenols and a trichlorophenol; 1,2,4,5-TCB, to 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenol, tetrachloroquinol and a trichlorophenol.