The furan compound, 4-ipomeanol, is activated in lung tissue by cytochrome P-450 dependent oxidation to a highly reactive, electrophilic product that binds covalently to tissue macromolecules. Although the reactive metabolite(s) of 4-ipomeanol have not yet been definitively identified, recent studies with 3-methylfuran have indicated that a highly reactive, unsaturated dialdehyde is formed from microsomal oxidation and ring-opening of the furan nucleus. Metabolic experiments with 4-ipomeanol in intact lungs, lung slices, lung cells, lung microsomes and purified lung cytochromes P-450, supported the conclusion that the Clara cell is an important locus of cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase activity in lung. In vivo, 4-ipomeanol was bound covalently and caused necrosis preferentially in the pulmonary Clara cells of laboratory animals. Similarly, N-nitrosamines require metabolic activation mediated by the cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase system in the host organism. A number of nitrosamines which are lung carcinogens in rats and hamsters have been shown to bind preferentially to bronchial and bronchiolar Clara cells in these species. Early pathological changes occurred specifically in Clara cells and lung tumors that developed under continuous nitrosamine treatment originated from such altered Clara cells. The well-differentiated counterparts of these tumors clearly retained their ability to bind the nitrosamine that had induced their formation. Thus, the studies on these two different classes of compounds together supported the view that metabolism may be a factor critical to the progenitor role of the Clara cell in chemically-induced bronchogenic lung cancer.