Benzene: CANCER SUSPECT AGENT

Caution Benzene is a cancer suspect agent. All procedures should be carried out in an efficient fume-hood. Chemically-resistant gloves and safety glasses should be worn. 

Caution Ethyl bromoacetate is a lacrymator that strongly irritates the eyes and the skin. Benzene is a cancer suspect agent. Wear gloves and safety goggles and carry out all manipulations in an efficiently ventilated hood. 

HMPA, hexamethylphosphoramide, is toxic and a cancer-suspect agent. It was purchased from Tokyo Kasei Kogyo Co. or Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc. and distilled from calcium hydride under reduced pressure before use. When dimethylpropyleneurea (DMPU) was used in place of HMPA, none of the desired bis(trimethy silyl)benzene was obtained. 

In this book, many examples have been given that use benzene as a reagent or solvent. However, since benzene is a cancer-suspect agent, its use must be severely restricted and efforts must be made to eliminate this... 

The antineoplastic agent mitindomide (160) in fact represents the well-known product from irradiation of maleimide in benzene [30]. The activity of this old compound was uncovered by one of the large antitumor screens maintained by the National Cancer Institute, The structure is sufficiently complex and the starting materials sufficiently available to lead one to suspect that the product is still produced photochemically. The product can be rationalized by assuming successive 1,4 and 1,2 additions to benzene. Intermediate 159a involves the 1,4 followed by 1,2 addition intermediate 159b presupposes the steps occur in the reverse order. 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a class of compounds that contain two or more fused benzene rings. They are environmental pollutants and the most ubiquitous, benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), has been upgraded by the International Agency for Research on Cancer to a Group 1 or known human carcinogen [1]. PAHs are products of fossil fuel combustion they are a component of fine particulate matter (size 2.5pm) and as a consequence contaminate the air we breathe, the soil and water supply, and enter the food chain [2, 3]. They are also introduced artificially into smoked, cured, and barbecued food [4, 5], Finally, they are present as a complex mixture in tobacco smoke and second-hand smoke, and are suspect causative agents in human lung cancer [6]. 

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