Autoreduction of 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1,4-dioxopiperidinium ion to nitroxyl radical in alkaline medium involves a number of parallel and consecutive reactions. The primary products of the reaction of 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1,4-dioxopiperidinium with hydroxide ion are three nitroso compounds and N-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine N-oxide. Isomerization of the nitroso compounds and elimination of acetone from the N-oxide give cyclic hydroxylamines which reduce the initial cation to nitroxyl radical, being oxidized to nitrones.Stable nitroxyl radicals give rise to redox triad consisting of oxoammonium cation R 2 N + =O, nitroxyl radical R 2 N-O · , and hydroxylamine R 2 N-OH (Scheme 1), which possesses a unique set of parameters. Properties of two-electron redox couple R 2 N + =O/R 2 N-OH and one-electron redox couples R 2 N + =O/R 2 N-O · and R 2 N-O · /R 2 N-OH were utilized in such processes as selective oxidation of alcohols [1][2][3][4][5], design of chemical current sources with improved parameters [6,7], suppression of oxidative stress in living organisms [8], and even DNA-mediated signaling by base excision repair enzymes [9]. Oxoammonium derivatives of nitroso ureas were found to exhibit a strong antitumor activity [10,11]. nium salts are the corresponding nitroxyl radicals, it was presumed [12] that hydroxide ion acts as reducing agent in this reaction. Nevertheless, the equilibrium constant calculated from the reduction potentials of 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-oxopiperidinium ion (0.75 V [14]) and hydroxyl radical OH · (1.89 V [15]) is very small, K 1 = k 1 /k -1 ≈ 5 × 10 -20 (Scheme 2).