Toxicity Profiles

RAGs A Format for Benzo[g,h,i]perylene - CAS Number 191242

Benzo[g,h,i]perylene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with six carbon rings. It is a crystalline solid. Benzo[g,h,i]perylene is practically insoluble in water but is soluble in 1,4-dioxane, dichloromethane, benzene, and acetone. There is no known commercial production or use of benzo[g,h,i]perylene. It occurs naturally in crude oils and is present ubiquitously in products of incomplete combustion and in coal tar. It has been identified in cigarette smoke, charcoal-broiled steaks, and edible oils and in soils, groundwater, and surface waters at hazardous waste sites.

No absorption data were available for benzo[g,h,i]perylene; however, by analogy to other PAHs, primarily benzo[a]pyrene, it would be expected to be absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and skin. No human or animal data were available to evaluate the toxicity of benzo[g,h,i]perylene.

No oral or inhalation bioassays were available to assess the carcinogenicity of benzo[g,h,i]perylene in humans. Negative results were reported in dermal application studies and in initiation-promotion assays for skin tumorigenesis in mice. Although a few pulmonary tumors were observed in Osborne-Mendel rats when benzo[g,h,i]perylene was administered as single lung implants of >=83 mg, the tumors may have been caused by impurities in the test compound. In subcutaneous injection studies, benzo[g,h,i]perylene did not produce injection site tumors in mice.

Based on no human data and inadequate data with experimental animals, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified benzo[g,h,i]perylene in weight-of-evidence Group D, not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity.