Molecular Structures of Carcinogenic Nitrosamines and their Isoelectronic Formamide Analogues

Abstract

We propose that N-nitrosamines are carcinogenic because a cell mistakes a nitrosamine for its harmless, isoelectronic analogue, an amide. The nitrosamine is incorporated into a biological pathway intended for the amide and eventually causes a pathology. The microwave spectra of three carcinogenic nitrosamines and their isoelectronic formamide analogues have been assigned and analyzed. The molecular structure comparison is most conveniently expressed by their second moments shown in the table. It can be seen that except for a modest contraction of the structure along the a axis upon changing a CHO to an NO group, the molecular geometry in the b and c directions is nearly indistinguishable among the isoelectronic pairs. [FIGURE]