The decomposition of lipid hydroperoxides into peroxyl radicals is a potential source of singletoxygen (
1O
2) in biological systems. We report herein on evidence of the generation of
1O
2 from lipidhydroperoxides involving a cyclic mechanism from a linear tetraoxide intermediate proposed by Russell.Using
18O-labeled linoleic acid hydroperoxide (LA
18O
18OH) in the presence of Ce
4+ or Fe
2+, we observedthe formation of
18O-labeled
1O
2 (
18[
1O
2]) by chemical trapping of
1O
2 with 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA)and detected the corresponding
18O-labeled DPA endoperoxide (DPA
18O
18O) by high-performance liquidchromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Spectroscopic evidence for the generation of
1O
2was obtained by measuring (i) the dimol light emission in the red spectral region (
> 570 nm); (ii) themonomol light emission in the near-infrared (IR) region (
= 1270 nm); and (iii) the quenching effect ofsodium azide. Moreover, the presence of
1O
2 was unequivocally demonstrated by the direct spectralcharacterization of the near-IR light emission. For the sake of comparison,
1O
2 deriving from the H
2O
2/OCl
- and H
2O
2/MoO
42- systems or from the thermolysis of the endoperoxide of 1,4-dimethylnaphthalenewas also monitored. These chemical trapping and photoemission properties clearly demonstrate that thedecomposition of LA
18O
18OH generates
18[
1O
2], consistent with the Russell mechanism and pointing to theinvolvement of
1O
2 in lipid hydroperoxide mediated cytotoxicity.