Bioassay-directed fractionation of PAH of molecular mass 302 in coal tar-contaminated sediment

Bioassay-directed fractionation was used to characterise genotoxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAH. of molecular mass 302 amu in organic solvent extracts of coal tar-contaminated sediment from Sydney Harbour, Nova Scotia. A normal phase HPLC technique was employed to separate PAH-rich solvent extracts into fractions containing PAH of single molecular mass classes. The 302 amu molecular mass fraction was isolated and further separated using reversed phase HPLC; subfractions were collected every 30 s and subjected to bioassay analyses with Salmonella typhimurium strain YG1025 with the addition of oxidative metabolism 4% S9.. Compounds eluting in the most active subfractions included naphthow2,1-axpyrene and naphthow2,3-axpyrene. The results of this study underscore the significant contribution that molecular mass 302 PAH make to the biological activity of complex environmental mixtures.