Bilirubin, the principal and biologically most relevant bile pigment was, until recently, considered a waste product of haem catabolism. However, current data suggest that bile pigments possess biological potential, related to their antioxidant and anti-mutagenic effects. In this context, it is now assumed that bile pigments and their derivatives exert these effects via multiple mechanisms, including discrete anti-oxidative and physico-chemical interactive effects. The major scientific focus so far has concentrated on the compounds' antioxidant action, and mechanistic investigations of possible mutagen-tetrapyrrole interaction are lacking. Therefore we tested structurally related bile pigments/derivatives (bilirubin/-ditaurate/-dimethyl ester, biliverdin/-dimethyl ester, urobilin, stercobilin and protoporphyrin) for anti-genotoxicity in the Salmonella reverse mutation assay (strains TA98, TA102), together with the synthetic mutagen 2,4,7-trinitro-9H-fluoren-9-one (TNFone). To explore possible structural interactions, molecular systems of chlorin e6 porphyrin/bilirubin/biliverdin with TNFone were assayed using circular dichroism. These data consistently revealed, at suprastoichiometric concentrations, that tetrapyrroles interact with TNFone. Addition of TNFone to chlorin e6 porphyrin, bilirubin-albumin and biliverdin-albumin led to a marked change in pigment spectra, providing evidence for tight tetrapyrrole-mutagen interaction. This conclusion was also supported by substantial, TNFone-induced decrease of bilirubin oxidation in the bilirubin-albumin system. This outcome was reflected in a bacterial model, in which most tetrapyrroles and especially protoporphyrin, significantly attenuated TNFone-induced mutagenesis. These data indicate that aromatic, tetrapyrrolic molecules interact with TNFone, providing a novel mechanism to suggest the anti-mutagenic effects of bile pigments in vivo are related to their physico-chemical interaction with genotoxins.