A method for screening chemical compounds for electrophilic properties comprising the steps of:

(a) providing an assay having one or more reaction vessels;

(b) adding a predetermined amount of separate chemical compounds for screening to each reaction vessel;

(c) adding a predetermined amount of a surrogate chemical marker to each reaction vessel and allowing said separate chemical compounds and surrogate chemical marker to incubate for a period of time;

(d) adding a reactive chemical to each reaction vessel which is capable of reacting with residual surrogate chemical marker such that the amount of residual surrogate chemical marker present after step (c) can be quantitatively or qualitatively measured; and

(e) quantitatively or qualitatively measuring said residual chemical marker is provided.