Tolerance of various biological species to triorganotins

Abstract

Several triphenyltin chloride picoline N-oxide adducts were synthesized. X-ray studies of triphenyltin chloride 4- picoline N-oxide indicate that the adduct has a distorted trigonal bipyramid (TBP) configuration with the phenyl groups in the equatorial positions and the axial positions being occupied by the 4-picoline N-oxide ligand and chlorine atom. Structures of the other adducts are assumed to be similar based on the IR spectra. Multinuclear NMR studies indicated that the TBP configuration is lost in solution. Screening results of the adducts against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) indicate that the E. coli were more tolerant to the adducts. In addition to the adducts, three other series of triorganotins that incorporated various modified fragments of pyrethroids were also tested against B. subtilis and E. coli. No common order of toxicity was observed for these compounds based on the organic group attached to the tin atom. In addition to the evaluation of the triphenyltin chloride adducts and modified triorganotins against the two bacteria, 12 commercial triorganotins were evaluated against a freshwater snail, Biomphalaria glabrata (B. glabrata). The screening results indicated that the bacteria are more tolerant to the triorganotins than B. glabrata.