The pulse-radiolysis method has been used to study the catalytic mechanism of O2 leads to dismutation by the Co(II)-substituted bovine erythrocuprein (superoxide dismutase, EC 1.15.1.1). Catalysis is accompanied by spectral changes that may be interpreted in terms of rapid protonation and deprotonation of the Cu-facing nitrogen atom of the imidazolate that bridges the Cu(II) and the Co(II) [or Zn(II)] in the oxidized enzyme. This rapid change permits the possibility that the imidazole is a proton donor in the catalytic reduction of O2 leads to.