ONIOM calculations have provided novel insights into the mechanism of homolytic Co-C5' bond cleavage in the 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin cofactor catalyzed by methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. We have shown that it is a stepwise process in which conformational changes in the 5'-deoxyadenosine moiety precede the actual homolysis step. In the transition state structure for homolysis, the Co-C5' bond elongates by approximately 0.5 Angstroms from the value found in the substrate-bound reactant complex. The overall barrier to homolysis is approximately 10 kcal/mol, and the radical products are approximately 2.5 kcal/mol less stable than the initial ternary complex of enzyme, substrate, and cofactor. The movement of the deoxyadenosine moiety during the homolysis step positions the resulting 5'-deoxyadenosyl radical for the subsequent hydrogen atom transfer from the substrate, methylmalonyl-CoA.