The Influence of Metabolism Involving Methyl Group Substituents on the Selective Toxicity of Fenitrothion

Abstract

An understanding of selective toxicity can be important in the preparation of new compounds to be used as insecticide. Fenitrothion is 10-50 times less toxic to mammals, than methyl parathion although the two, compounds have chemically similar structures. A number of hypotheses have attempted to explain the selective toxicity of Fenitrothion compared to methyl parathion. The present investigation has re-examined two hypothess which suggested that the selective toxicity of Fenitrothion to mammals could be due to metabolic differences involving the methyl group substituents present on this insecticide.