The gas phase and aqueous thermochemistry and reactivity of nitroxyl (nitrosyl hydride, HNO) were elucidated with multiconfigurational self-consistent field and hybrid density functional theory calculations and continuum solvation methods. The pK a of HNO is predicted to be 7.2 ؎ 1.0, considerably different from the value of 4.7 reported from pulse radiolysis experiments. The ground-state triplet nature of NO ؊ affects the rates of acid-base chemistry of the HNO͞NO ؊ couple. HNO is highly reactive toward dimerization and addition of soft nucleophiles but is predicted to undergo negligible hydration (Keq ؍ 6.9 ؋ 10 ؊5 ). HNO is predicted to exist as a discrete species in solution and is a viable participant in the chemical biology of nitric oxide and derivatives.T he discoveries of nitric oxide (NO) biosynthesis in mammalian cells and the diverse biological activity associated with NO and NO-derived species (1) have brought intense interest in the physiological chemistry of nitrogen oxides. The chemistry of NO and its biologically accessible oxidized congeners nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), nitrite (NO 2 Ϫ ), peroxynitrite (ONOO Ϫ ), dinitrogen trioxide (N 2 O 3 ), and nitrate (NO 3 Ϫ ) is fairly well established (2). By contrast, the reduced congeners such as nitroxyl (HNO) and its conjugate base (NO Ϫ ) are less well understood, and consequently their role in biology is not clear. The importance of HNO or NO Ϫ in biology has often been neglected or dismissed, in part because NO metabolism is thought to be primarily oxidative in nature (3), and because HNO is thought to be only metastable (3), a strong acid (4), and to dimerize readily (5). NO Ϫ is known to react rapidly and irreversibly with NO (6), making the examination of NO Ϫ in the presence of NO difficult. Additionally, HNO might be expected to be electrophilic, and hydration under physiological conditions would serve to attenuate its aqueous reactivity.Nitroxyl (HNO), or its conjugate base, NO Ϫ , is known to be formed under physiological conditions; for example, oxidation of N-hydroxy-L-arginine (an intermediate in NO biosynthesis) (7), reaction of S-nitrosothiols with thiols (8, 9), nitric oxide synthase (10-12), and even direct reduction of NO by mitochondrial cytochrome c (13), may all generate HNO. Nitroxyl has been generated via the interaction of NO with manganese superoxide dismutase (14) and with ubiquinol (15). HNO has biological activity; it can act as a potent cytotoxic agent that causes double-stranded breaks in DNA, depletion of cellular glutathione (16), as well as elicitation of smooth muscle relaxation (17). HNO has been found to be a potent inhibitor of thiol-containing enzymes (18,19) and attenuates the activity of the NMDA receptor via thiol modification, thus providing neuroprotection (20).Much of the fundamental biological chemistry associated with HNO is unknown, aside from the rate constant for dimerization is a typical nucleophile, yet several studies find that HNO generated at physiological pH reacts readily as an electrophile, par...