Peroxynitrite mediates the oxidation of the sulphinic group of both HTAU (hypotaurine) and CSA (cysteine sulphinic acid), producing the respective sulphonates, TAU (taurine) and CA (cysteic acid). The reaction is associated with extensive oxygen uptake, suggesting that HTAU and CSA are oxidized by the one-electron transfer mechanism to sulphonyl radicals, which may initiate an oxygen-dependent radical chain reaction with the sulphonates as final products. Besides the one-electron mechanism, HTAU and CSA can be oxidized by the two-electron pathway, leading directly to sulphonate formation without oxygen consumption. The apparent second-order rate constants for the direct reaction of peroxynitrite with HTAU and CSA at pH 7.4 and 25 degrees C are 77.4+/-5 and 76.4+/-9 M(-1).s(-1) respectively. For both sulphinates, the apparent second-order rate constants increase sharply with decrease in pH, and the sigmoidal curves obtained are consistent with peroxynitrous acid as the species responsible for sulphinate oxidation. The kinetic data, together with changes in oxygen uptake, sulphinate depletion, sulphonate production, and product distribution of nitrite and nitrate, suggest that oxidation of sulphinates by peroxynitrite may take place by the two reaction pathways whose relative importance depends on reagent concentrations and pH value. In the presence of bicarbonate, the direct reaction of sulphinates with peroxynitrite is inhibited and the oxidative reaction probably involves only the radicals *NO2 and CO3*-, generated by decomposition of the peroxynitrite-CO2 adduct.