Investigations on the acute toxic, cytogenetic, and embryotoxic activity of phenyl isocyanate and diethoxyphosphoryl isocyanate.

Phenyl isocyanate (I) and diethoxyphosphoryl isocyanate (II), used as intermediates in organic chemical syntheses, were tested for their acute toxic, cytogenetic, and embryotoxic activity on mice of different strains. The oral LD50 values for male CFLP mice were determined to be 196 mg/kg for I and 4080 mg/kg for II. Single oral doses of 1/40 and 1/20, respectively, of the LD50 of I (4.9 and 9.8 mg/kg) and II (102 and 204 mg/kg) did not cause any significant enhancement in the percentage of chromosome aberrations in bone marrow cells of CFLP mice. After oral administration of 9.8 mg/kg I and 204 mg/kg II to pregnant Halle-AB-Jena and Halle-DBA mice at various days of gestation (4, 7, 11, or 15), none of the compounds tested were embryotoxic.