2,2'-oxybis-6-oxabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane

This product was developed as a high-performance epoxy resin and epoxy resin diluent.

ChEBI: Bis(2,3-epoxycyclopentyl)ether is a member of oxanes.

Dermal application in C3H/JAX mice for 18–20 months at 30% in acetone resulted in no mice with tumors. All mice had died by 20 months. When applied in C3H/HeJ mice for up to 24 months at 50% in acetone for the first 15 months and 25% in acetone for the rest of the study, there were again no skin tumors. In another test in C3H mice at 50 and 10% in acetone, there were 5/80 with skin tumors at 50% level and 0/40 with skin tumors at 10%. When a 1:1 mixture of this compound and ERL 2774 was applied at 50% and 10% in acetone to the same two strains of mice, there were 51/80 and 19/40, respectively, C57BL/6 mice with skin tumors. The sample of ERL 2774 tested was shown to have 10% of an epoxidized polyglycol (molecular weight 7500) and up to 5000 ppm phenyl glycidyl ether present. Nothing is known of the toxicity potential of the epoxidized polyglycol, but phenyl glycidyl ether is known to cause nasal carcinoma in rats following chronic inhalation.
The compound has been shown to be positive in the Ames test for bacterial mutagenesis, positive in a cell transformation assay in Chinese hamster ovary cells, and negative for induction of DNA repair in cultured human leukocytes.