A NEW TEST FOR THE DETECTION AND THE APPRAISAL OF EXPOSURE TO TRINITROTOLUENE

In the course of an experimental study of the toxicity of trinitrotoluene and the mechanism of its action, it was found that trinitrotoluene is partly reduced in the organism with the formation of amines. One of these is presumably 2,6-dinitro-4-aminotoluene. Although sufficient quantities for chemical identification have not been isolated from the urine so far, certain characteristics seem to favor this assumption. It appears very likely that other reduction products such as mononitrodiaminotoluene and dinitrohydroxylaminotoluene and its derivatives may be encountered, but so far none of these have been identified by us in urines of experimental animals and man. These studies are still in progress and will be reported at a later date together with a discussion of the pertinent literature, but a test developed for the determination of 2,6-dinitro-4-aminotoluene was applied to a large number of urines of workers exposed to trinitrotoluene and was found to be more sensitive