CoMFA of flavonoids with antimutagenic activity against 2-amino-3-methylimidazo(4,5-f)quinoline (IQ)

SUMMARY The flavonoids are one of the largest groups of secondary metabo lites in plants and they are a very important part in the human nutrition. Dietary inhibitors of mutagenesis and carcinogenesis are of particular interest because they may be useful for human cancer prevention and several flavonoids have been demonstrated to have an antimutagenic effect on various mutagens or carcinogens. Using biological data for the inhibition of the mutagenic activity of IQ (2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline) by different flavonoids, we have made a three-dimensional analysis (CoMFA) to develop a model for the structure‐ activity relationships of these compounds. Our results support the mode of action proposed earlier for the binding with the cytochrome P450 and bring a new additional possibility of interaction with the enzyme.