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Dioxins

Toxicology of Dioxin


The toxicology of dioxin is the story of a special molecule, 2,3,7,8-tetra chlorinated dibenzo para-dioxin, often abbreviated to TCDD or just dioxin. This is the most toxic of the dioxin family.

The structure of TCDD is the molecule with a chlorine atom at each of the 2,3,7,8 positions.

Image of the chemical structure of TCDD.

It is the shape and size of this molecule that is responsible for its toxicity, as dioxin toxicity is caused by the molecule binding to a cellular (protein) receptor, the Ah receptor.

While the initial focus is on the above TCDD molecule (as it was contained in 2,4,5-T, Agent Orange and related chemicals), there are a large family of dioxin and furan congeners.

Most of these congeners are far less toxic than TCDD, but some are still very toxic materials. Some polychlorinated biphenyl molecules are now recognised as having dioxin-like toxicity too.

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