Wy GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

’ 1, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH #® PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 15213
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RADIATION HEALTH November 5, 1969

Professor Joshua Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford Medical Center

300 Pasteur Drive

Palo Alto, California 94304

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

Enclosed are reprints of some of my papers on the chemistry and biological
effects of peroxide derivatives which you requested on September 29. I have
several other papers which will appear or are in preparation. Several of these
are in forthcoming issues of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and
deal with the catalytic decomposition of H202 by metal chelates in the neutral
PH region. I am preparing a manuscript on Hj02 adducts, which is briefly mentioned
in the enclosed reprint on histidine peroxide. I think the paper on the H209 ad-
ducts, which are formed in dilute aqueous solution in which as little as 107 “By
of H902 reacts, is of special interest with regard to the mechanism of the muta-
genicity produced by organic peroxides. What appears to happen is that the per-
oxidic oxygens compete for hydrogen bonding in the base pairs. Once the peroxide-
thymine adduct, for example, is formed, it breaks down destroying the base as well
as the peroxide.

I have summarized a great deal of the work on mutagenicity and cytotoxicity
of irradiated compounds in a comprehensive review which is in press in the Bulle-
tin of the World Health Organization. A preprint is enclosed for your information.

Sincerely yours,

MY

Jack Schubert, Ph.D.
Professor of Radiation Chemistry

JS:dm

Enclosures:
(1) Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 1967, 13:297-300.
(2) Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 1967, 13:485-489.
(3) Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 1968, 14: §77-583.
(4) Jour. Am. Chen. Soc., 1968, 90, 4476.
(5) Rad. Res., 1969, 37:531-538.
(6) J. Gen, J. Gen, Microbiol., 1969, 57:25-34.

(7) Bull. World Hith. | Org., in p press.