Abstract
The metabolism of benzene was studied with and without the addition of ATP and K2SO4 by using the enzyme samples extracted from the rabbit liver. When an enzyme sample extracted from the ground liver with 0.88M sucrose solution was used, a con-jugated metabolite estimated as conjugated phenol was produced from benzene, but it was not from phenol. This conjugated metabolite was assumed to be conjugated dihy-droxydihydrobenzene and the conjugating capacity of this compound was found to be larger than that of phenol. Accordingly, it was concluded that the conjugating capac-ities of phenols produced from benzene were in the order of dihydroxydihydrobenzene, phenol, catechol and then hydroquinone.
