The reaction of the hydroxyl radical, generated by a Fenton system, with pyrimidine deoxyribonucleotides was investigated by using the e.s.r. technique of spin trapping. The spin trap t-nitrosobutane was employed to trap secondary radicals formed by the reaction of the hydroxyl radical with these nucleotides. The results presented here show that hydroxyl-radical attack on thymidine, 2-deoxycytidine 5-monophosphate and 2-deoxyuridine 5-monophosphate produced nucleotide-derived free radicals. The results indicate that .OH radical attack occurs predominantly at the carbon-carbon double bond of the pyrimidine base. The e.s.r. studies showed a good correlation with previous results obtained by authors who used x- or gamma-ray irradiation to generate the hydroxyl radical. A thiobarbituric acid assay was also used to monitor the damage produced to the nucleotides by the Fenton system. These results showed qualitative agreement with the spin-trapping studies.