The oxygenation reactions of polyunsaturated fatty acids include several examples in which different enzymes collaborate in synthesis of the end product. The cyclooxygenases are paired with cytochrome P450s in the transformation of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin (PG) endoperoxides and on to thromboxane A 2 and prostacyclin ( 1, 2 ). A P450 and cyclooxygenase participate in the opposite order in the metabolism of P450-derived 8,9-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (8,9-EET) by cyclooxygenase, giving epoxy-hydroxy products ( 3 ). The plant pathway of jasmonic acid synthesis involves initial oxygenation by a 13 S -lipoxygenase (LOX) followed by transformation to an allene oxide by the P450, CYP74 ( 2, 4 ). Other examples include the cooperation of LOX and peroxygenase enzymes in the formation of epoxy and hydroxy fatty acids ( 5-7 ). The present work describes a new type of interaction, not so far described in nature, yet with the potential to produce fatty acid hydroxy-endoperoxides. Further transformations could readily form triols or other derivatives.The impetus for the present work arose from further studies of fatty acid epoxidation by catalase-related enzymes primed with an oxygen donor, analogous to an earlier report of arachidonate and 8-HETE epoxidation by catalase-related allene oxide synthase ( 8 ). One example involved enzymatic epoxidation of 13 S -hydroxy-␣ -linolenic acid on the 15,16-double bond. To assign the confi guration of the new 15,16-epoxide group, we proposed a scheme using soybean LOX to introduce a 13 S -hydroperoxide into Abbreviations: AD1/AD2, 15,16-epoxy-linolenate enantiomers eluted from Chiralpak AD chiral column; EET, epoxyeicosatrienoic acid; HAc, glacial acetic acid; HPETE, hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid; LOX, lipoxygenase; mCPBA, meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid; P450, cytochrome P450; PG, prostaglandin; RP-HPLC, reversed phase HPLC; S N i, intramolecular nucleophilic substitution; SP-HPLC, straight phase HPLC; TPP, triphenylphosphine.