Further studies on polycyclic arene sulfides. Preparation and mutagenic activity of 9, 10, 10a, 11a‐tetrahydrotriphenyleno[1,2‐ b ]‐thiirene, 1a,2,3,10b‐tetrahydro‐5 H ‐thiereno[3,4]benzo[1,2‐ b ]fluorene and 1a,2,3,11b‐tetrahydroacenaphtho[1′,2′:6,7]naphth[1,2‐ b ]thiirene

The title compounds 6 , 8 and 10 , which are dihydroarene sulfides of the environmental pollutants triphenylene, benzo[ b ]fluorene and benzo[ k ]fluoranthene, have been synthesized from the corresponding epoxides and N,N ‐dimethylthioformamide. The mutagenicity of the episulfides has been investigated using Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100. While compounds 6 and 10 were mutagenic, the tetrahydrobenzo[ b ]fluorene episulfide 8 was inactive.