Toxicity and Metabolism of Nitroalkanes and Substituted Nitroalkanes

A series of low molecular weight nitro-containing compounds has recently been discovered to have a variety of biological activities including the reduction of anaerobic methane production in ruminant animals and activity against economically important human pathogens, including Salmonella sp. and shigella-toxin producing Escherichia coli. Although some of these nitrocompounds, nitroethane and 2-nitropropane, for example, have been industrial chemicals and synthetic intermediates for years, others such as carboxymethyl nitro-amino acid analogues are new to science and have not been previously described. The purpose of this paper is to review the toxicological profiles, especially as related to events occurring during metabolism and biotransformation, which contribute to toxicological end points of established nitroaliphatic compounds. It is hoped that by summarizing existing knowledge, an understanding of the activities and toxicological profiles of newly established nitrocompounds might be anticipated or adverse events associated with their use might be avoided.