To assess the risks these materials pose to humans, it is essential to isolate, identify, synthesize and test these compounds.
Identifications are only tentative due to the lack of reference standards.
Biological test data are also unavailable for the same reason, although some of the known compounds exhibit carcinogenic and mutagenic activity. This research program is dedicated to understanding of the chemistry and biological activity of these environmental pollutants and the potential health hazard they pose. The group provides laboratory quantities of chemical carcinogens and mutagens, their metabolites and adducts, as well as chemopreventive agents for research on carcinogenesis as reference standards and substrates for the elucidation of the pathways of carcinogen metabolism, activation, and molecular mechanism of action. This program also supports the NCI Chemical Carcinogen Reference Standards Repository. A list of compounds available for research purposes from the Reference Standards Repository can be downloaded from this site as pdf files and viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader.