Combined Toxicity of Nitro-Substituted Benzenes and Zinc to Photobacterium Phosphoreum: Evaluation and QSAR Analysis

The single toxicity (IC50) of zinc (Zn) and 11 nitro-substituted benzenes to Photobacterium phosphoreum were determined, respectively. On basis of single toxicity, the joint toxicity of binary mixtures of Zn and 11 nitro-substituted benzenes at different Zn concentrations of 0.2 IC50, 0.5 IC50, and 0.8 IC50 were measured. The joint toxicity was evaluated by toxic unit (TU) and additive index (AI) methods. The results indicated that the joint toxicity was not only depending on the Zn concentrations but also on the substituted groups of nitro-substituted benzenes. The quantitative structure-activity relation (QSAR) equations were developed and the results showed that the toxicity of nitro-substituted benzenes has different joint effect at the different Zn concentrations. At the Zn concentration of 0.2 IC50, the binary joint effects were mainly antagonism and the joint toxicity was negatively related to descriptors called VE2_B(p) and TIC3. At the Zn concentration of 0.5 IC50 and 0.8 IC50, the binary joint effects were mainly antagonism and simple addition, and the joint toxicity was related to the same descriptor Eig06_ AEA(dm). It indicated that the joint toxic actions were similar when combined at the medium and high concentrations of Zn.