In a recent article [Khan, A. U., Kovacic, D., Kolbanovsky, A., Desai, M.,
Frenkel, K. & Geacintov, N, E. (2000) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 2984-2
989], the authors claimed that ONOO-, after protonation to ONOOH, decompose
s into (HNO)-H-1 and O-1(2) according to a spin-conserved unimolecular mech
anism. This claim was based partially on their observation that nitrosylhem
oglobin is formed via the reaction of peroxynitrite with methemoglobin at n
eutral pH. However, thermochemical considerations show that the yields of O
-1(2) and (HNO)-H-1 are about 23 orders of magnitude lower than those of (N
O2)-N-. and (OH)-O-., which are formed via the homolysis of ONOOH. We also
show that methemoglobin does not form with peroxynitrite any spectrally det
ectable product, but with contaminations of nitrite and H2O2 present in the
peroxynitrite sample. Thus, there is no need to modify the present view of
the mechanism of ONOOH decomposition, according to which initial homolysis
into a radical pair, [(ONOOH)-O-..](cage), is followed by the diffusion of
about 30% of the radicals out of the cage, while the rest recombines to ni
tric acid in the solvent cage.