INHIBITION OF GLYCOLYSIS BY HALOGENATED COMPOUNDS

¹ Department of Research, School of Dental Medicine, and Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Boston, Mass.

The influence of halogenated compounds on glycolysis by salivary sediment has been studied for nearly 500 compounds which were involved in a screening program. The purpose was to assess whether or not halogenation has any consistent influence on inhibitory action of a parent chemical. Among compounds in which either the parent structure or the monochloro derivative was active, halogenation had no consistent influence on the activity of the parent structure, and sometimes produced large increases or decreases in inhibitory effect. Among derivatives, both of which had slight or no activity, there was no difference in inhibitory action on the average, indicating no general trend induced by halogenation. The effect of multiple halogenation and the influence of fluorine, bromine, and iodine were likewise specific and unpredictable.

The inhibitory action of iodoacetate was marked and the specificity was high since iodoacetamide, bromoacetate, and bromopropionate were less inhibitory. Two halogen derivatives of nitropropane were inhibitory. Halogen derivatives of phenol, salicylic acid, benzyl alcohol, and saligenin were inhibitory. The related structures of phenoxy ethanol, phenoxy propanol, and and cyclohexylmethanol were active.