Reaction of carcinogens with acridine.

Only a very small number of the known substances is strongly carcinogenic. This indicates that carcinogenicity is linked to different qualities which all must be present to produce cancer. The various chemical reactions or qualities brought into relation with carcinogenicity reflect one or more of these factors. None of them seems to comprise all involved parameters. At the same time, none of the reactions proposed is strictly characteristic and is thus given also by substances which are not carcinogenic. This is true, also, for the "black reaction" with iodine, as described earlier by Isenberg et al. 1, 2 In spite of these discrepancies the chemical behavior of carcinogens is not without interest, giving, possibly, a clue to one or the other parameter of carcinogenicity. It is in this relation that we want to report reactions with acridine.