Structure–activity relationships and response–surface analysis of nitroaromatics toxicity to the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Inhibition of growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Cmiz, the minimum concentration that produced a clear inhibition zone within 12 h) for 24 nitroaromatic compounds was investigated and a quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) developed based on hydrophobicity expressed as the 1-octanol/water partition coefficient in logarithm form, logKow, electrophilicity based on the energy of the lowest unoccupied orbital (Elumo). All nitrobenzene derivatives exhibited enhanced reactive toxicity than baseline. The toxicities of mono-nitrobenzenes and di-nitrobenzenes were elicited by different mechanisms of toxic action. For mono-nitro-derivatives, both significant logKow based and strong Elumo-dependent relationships were observed indicating that their toxicities were affected both by the penetration process and the interaction with target sites of interaction. The toxicities of di-nitrobenzenes were greater than mono-nitrobenzenes and no logKow-dependent but highly significant Elumo-based relationship was obtained. This suggests that toxicity of di-nitrobenzenes was highly electrophilic and involved mainly their in vivo electrophilic interaction with biomacromolecules. In an effort to model the elevated toxicity of all nitrobenzenes, a response–surface analysis was performed and this resulted in a highly predictive two-variable QSAR without reference to their exact mechanisms (Cmiz=0.41 logKow−0.89 Elumo−0.46, r2=0.87, Q2=0.86, n=24).