Hexyl chloroformate

Endpoint summary

Description of key information

Expected to be skin irritating and eye damaging due to highly reactive chloroformate group. 
No skin or eye irritation potential in the EpiDerm™ skin corrosion/irritation test and the EpiOcular™ eye irritation test under the test conditions chosen.

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Respiratory irritation

Endpoint conclusion

Endpoint conclusion:

no study available

Additional information

Hexyl chloroformate, CAS No. 6092-54-2 contains the highly reactive chloroformate group, which is described to be responsible for severe irritation at the point of contact [OECD SIDS for chloroformates, 2010]. It is expected to have skin and eye irritating potential. 

Skin irritation / corrosion in vitro

In an in vitro skin iriritation / corrosion study (BASF 2013) performed in accordance with OECD Guideline 431 and 439, the potential of the test substance to cause irritation or corrsion of the skin was assessed using the Epiderm™ skin corrosion/irritation test. The test consisted of a single topical exposure of 50 μL (corrosion test) or 30 μL (irritation test) of the test substance to the surface of a human reconstituted epidermis model for 3 minutes and 1 hour (corrosion test) or 1 hour with 42 hours post incubation (irritation test) followed by a cell viability test. The optical density of the extracts of test substance treated tissues is compared to negative control values from tissue treated with de-ionized water (corrosion test) or PBS (irritation test) and is expressed as relative tissue viability. The corrosion tests were performed in duplicate and the irritation test was performed in triplicate. Average viability of the test substance treated tissue was 99, 97, and 104 after an exposure of 3 minutes, 1 hour and 1 hour with 42 hours post incubation, respectively. Based on the observed results it was concluded, that the test substance does not show a skin irritation potential in the EpiDerm™ skin corrosion/irritation test under the test conditions chosen.

Eye irritation / corrosion in vitro

In a in vitro eye irritation / corrosion test (BASF 2013) two EpiOcular™ tissue samples were incubated with 50 μL of the test substance for 30 minutes followed by a 2-hour post-incubation period. Tissue destruction was determined by measuring the metabolic activity of the tissue after exposure/post-incubation using a colorimetric test. The reduction of mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity, measured by reduced formazan production after incubation with a tetrazolium salt (MTT) was chosen as endpoint. The formazan production of the test substance treated epidermal tissues is compared to that of negative control tissues (relative tissue viability). The average viability of the test substance treated tissue determined after an exposure of 30 minutes was 76 %. Based on the observed results it was concluded that the test substance does not show an eye irritation potential in the EpiOcular™ eye irritation test.

Justification for selection of skin irritation / corrosion endpoint:
Expected to be skin irritating due to highly reactive chloroformate group.

Justification for selection of eye irritation endpoint:
Expected to be eye damaging due to highly reactive chloroformate group.

Justification for classification or non-classification

Because of its highly reactive chloroformate group, hexyl chloroformate, CAS No. 6092-54-2 is classified as skin irritating cat. 2, H315 and eye damaging cat. 1, H318 according to Regulation 1272/2008 (CLP).