Registration Dossier

Data platform availability banner - registered substances factsheets

Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.

The new ECHA CHEM database has been released by ECHA, and it now contains all REACH registration data. There are more details on the transition of ECHA's published data to ECHA CHEM here.

Diss Factsheets

Administrative data

Link to relevant study record(s)

Description of key information

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Additional information

Uniformly ring-labeled 14C o-chlorotoluene was administered by gavage to rats at a dose of 320 mg/kg bw. Expired air, urine and faeces were examined for metabolites.


The recovery of radioactivity at 48 h averaged 11% in the expired air, 81% in urine, and 4% in feces; radioactivity in expired air was identified as unchanged o-chlorotoluene; urinary metabolites (as % of dose) were: o-chlorohippuric acid (16- 20%), a mercapturic acid conjugate of o-chlorotoluene (20- 24%) and polar metabolites (36-43%); enzymatic hydrolysis of rat urine indicated that the polar metabolites included the glucuronide conjugate of the phenolic hydroxylation product of o-chlorotoluene; unchanged o-chlorotoluene was not present in urine or feces of treated rats.


When male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were given a single oral dose of o-chlorotoluene at 1 mg/kg bw by gavage, 85 - 92% of the applied dose was eliminated in urine, 5 - 8% was excreted in feces and 1 - 4% of the applied dose was exhaled as volatile 14C; at least 84% of the volatile 14C was identified as unmetabolized o-chlorotoluene whereas 14C-carbon dioxide was an insignificant metabolite (< 1% applied dose).
A similar distribution of radioactivity was also seen in female rats given single oral doses of 91 or 102 mg/kg bw. The major urinary and fecal metabolites were o-chlorohippurate, a beta-glucuronide of o-chlorobenzyl alcohol and mercapturic acid; no significant sex-related metabolic differences were noticed between males and females and the same qualitative and quantitative distribution of metabolites was found for doses of 1-102 mg/kg bw.
O-chlorotoluene is quickly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract into blood as evidenced by exhalation of o-chlorotoluene and the rapid peak in 14C residues at ca. 2 h in blood plasma. Analysis of the 14C residues in plasma showed that the two major radioactive components were mercapturic acid and the beta-glucuronide of o-chlorobenzyl alcohol (38 and 25% of plasma 14C, respectively), while trace levels of o-chlorotoluene, o-chlorobenzoic acid, o-chlorobenzyl alcohol and o-chlorohippurate were detectable also; virtually all of the administered o-chlorotoluene was eliminated within 4 d with < 1% remaining in the carcass.