The two pairs of diastereomeric anti- and syn-diolepoxide derivatives of 5-methylchrysene in both bay regions were tested for cytotoxicity and for mutagenicity at the hprt locus of chinese hamster V79 cells as determined by the ability of the cells to form colonies in medium containing 6-thioguanine. The concentration of compound in the cell media required to achieve 37% survival ranged from 0.3 to 4.5 micrograms/ml. Although the mutagenic effectiveness, i.e. the induced mutation frequency per unit concentration of compounds, varied over a 30-fold range, the mutagenic efficiency, i.e. the induced mutation frequency at an equivalent level of cell survival, showed only a 3-fold variation. The anti-1,2-diol-3,4-epoxide isomer (anti-5MCDE-I) was found to be the most mutagenic of the 5-methylchrysene diolepoxide isomers. This finding is consistent with previous observations on the tumorigenicity of these diolepoxides.