Synopsis The nitromusk
perfume ingredient,
musk abrette, has been reported to cause photoallergic reactions in man. The potential of alternative, chemically related, nitromusks to cause
photoallergy has been studied using the Colworth guinea-pig
photoallergy test. The results showed that, compared with
musk ambrette,
musk moskene had a weak potential for inducing
photoallergy, and that the musks
xylene,
ketone and tibetene had only very weak potentials. A study of photo-crossreaction to
musk ambrette showed that
musk moskene was active,
musk xylene was weakly active, while the musks
ketone and tibetene were inactive. We conclude that
musk moskene is likely to be less hazardous for man than
musk ambrette, but caution should be used in selection of concentrations for use on sun-exposed skin. The musks
xylene,
ketone and tibetene are likely, photobiologically, to be acceptable alternatives to
musk ambrette. The photoallergic potential of the nitromusks can, probably, be related to chemical structure.