Susceptibilities of drugs to nitrosation under standardized chemical conditions

Of 22 drugs with either a N,N-dimethylamino, N,N-diethylamino or N-morpholino group in the molecule, eight were converted to volatile N-nitrosamines by nitrosative cleavage in reactions of nitrite and drug in a molar ratio of 4:1 at pH 3. Under standardized conditions yields were greatest with aminopyrine and minocycline which contains two N,N-dimethylamino groups in the molecule. Oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, tetracycline, promethazine, chlorpromazine, imipramine and disulfiram gave much lower yields and amitriptyline, clomiphene, clomipramine, dextropropoxyphene, diphenhydramine, disopyramide, erythromycin, mepyramine, methapyrilene, penicillin G procaine salt, procaine, tamoxifen, trimeprazine and tripelennamine yielded no detectable levels of volatile N-nitrosamines. Nitrosation products of 57 drugs were also examined by a group selective procedure estimating both volatile and non-volatile N-nitroso compounds. Virtually all of the yield obtained from aminopyrine or minocycline could be accounted for by N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). However, compounds yielding excess N-nitrosamines compared to NDMA were obtained from the other three tetracyclines, presumably as a result of the cleavage of a methyl group from the N,N-dimethylamino substituent to form desmethyl-N-nitroso compounds. In general, the drugs giving the highest yields of N-nitroso compounds were those containing secondary rather than tertiary amino groups. A considerable range of susceptibilities towards nitrous acid was observed overall; ten drugs containing a secondary or tertiary amino- or amido- or hydrazido - group did not react with nitrous acid to form N-nitroso compounds.