Hydroxyurea specifically inhibits the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase by inactivating the essential tyrosine free radical in one of the two non-identical subunits constituting the enzyme. Studies on the reactivity of hydroxyurea analogues towards the free radical salt, potassium nitrosodisulphonate, and the radical-containing B2 subunit of Escherichia coli ribonucleotide reductase showed that, to obtain maximal enzyme inhibition, the most important parameter of an analogue was the ability to undergo a one-electron oxidation. Also, a common geometrical feature for the analogues with high inhibitory potency was the planarity of the molecules.Results of inhibition studies with analogues containing bulky substituents but having about the same ability to reduce the free radical salt suggested that the tyrosine free radical of protein B2 is located in a pocket about 0.4 nm wide and more than 0.6 nm deep.The ribonucleotide reductases of E. coli, TCinfected E. coli and mammalian cells all contain the same tyrosine free radical structure. Still the mammalian reductase showed a 75-fold higher sensitivity to inhibition by 3,4-dihydroxybenzohydroxamic acid than the E. coli reductase. In contrast, the sensitivity to hydroxyurea was the same for both enzymes. The dihydroxybenzohydroxamic acid and hydroxyurea both reacted immediately (tip < 5 s) with the free radical salt. Therefore the difference in sensitivity between the mammalian and bacterial reductase most probably reflects different topologies of their active sites with the site of the mammalian enzyme being more exposed.The T4-induced reductase showed a 10-fold increased sensitivity towards both hydroxyurea and the polyhydroxybenzohydroxamic acids compared to the E. coli enzyme, indicating a greater ability of the T4 tyrosine free radical to undergo a one-electron reduction. A closer understanding of the different topologies of the active sites of different ribonucleotide reductases could be of great value in the design of target-directed drugs.Ribonucleotide reductase is an allosteric enzyme present in all cells that make D N A and it catalyzes the formation of deoxyribonucleotides from ribonucleotides [I]. In Escherichia coli the enzyme consists of a 1 : 1 complex between two non-identical subunits, proteins B1 and B2, of molecular weights 160000 and 78000 respectively. Protein B1 contains binding sites for the ribonucleoside diphosphate substrates and for the nucleoside triphosphate effectors and it also has oxidation/reduction-active disulfides, which donate the electrons necessary for the reduction. Protein B2 contains nonheme iron and a tyrosine free radical necessary for enzyme activity [2,3]. The active site of the E. coli reductase is known to contain structural elements from both proteins B1 and B2. This was shown in studies using the substrate analogues 2'-chloro-2'-deoxycytidine diphosphate and 2'-azido-2'-deoxycytidine diphosphate, both of which function as highly specific suicidal inhibitors [4].A similar general construction of ribonucfeotide reductase h...