Genotoxicity evaluation of two kinds of smoke‐water and 3,7‐dimethyl‐2H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyran‐2‐one

Smoke, smoke‐water and aerosols have a stimulatory effect on seed germination and growth vigour of many seedlings, making them potentially useful for different purposes, provided they do not pose a health risk. Therefore, the genotoxicity of two kinds of smoke‐water and 3,7‐dimethyl‐2H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyran‐2‐one, a variant of the most active smoke compound (3‐methyl‐2H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyran‐2‐one) was evaluated using the Vitotox? assay. Smoke‐water extracts were obtained from burning leaves: Themeda triandra (smoke‐water Tt) and a mix of Themeda triandra and Passerina vulgaris (smoke‐water Kb). No genotoxic effect was observed for any of the three samples. However, the three samples are toxic at the highest concentrations (3,7‐dimethyl‐2H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyran‐2‐one, 2 ppm; smoke‐water Tt, dilutions 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4; smoke‐water Kb, dilution 1 : 1) without addition of S9 mix. Both the butenolide 3,7‐dimethyl‐2H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyran‐2‐one and smoke‐water Tt are also toxic at high doses in the presence of S9 (2 ppm and dilutions 1 : 1 and 1 : 2, respectively), but not smoke‐water Kb. Thus, from these results, no genotoxicity of these three samples can be assumed, which is accordance with the previous tests performed with 3‐methyl‐2H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyran‐2‐one and a smoke‐water. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.