Binding of 13C-enriched oleic acid to bovine serum albumin and to three large proteolytic fragments of albumin--two complementary fragments corresponding to the two halves of albumin and one fragment corresponding to the carboxyl-terminal domain--yielded unique patterns of NMR resonances (chemical shifts and relative intensities) that were used to identify the locations of binding of the first 5 mol of oleic acid to the multidomain albumin molecule. The first 3 mol of oleic acid added to intact albumin generated three distinct NMR resonances as a result of simultaneous binding of oleic acid to three heterogeneous sites (primary sites). Two of these resonances were seen upon addition of 1 or 2 mol of oleic acid to fragments representing either the carboxyl-terminal half (residues 307-582) or the carboxyl-terminal domain (residues 377-582); the third resonance was seen upon addition of 1 mol of oleic acid to the fragment representing the amino-terminal half (residues 1-306). The resonance patterns for the fourth and fifth moles of oleic acid added to albumin (secondary sites) could not be duplicated by addition of more oleic acid to individual fragments. These resonance patterns were generated, however, when the two complementary fragments were mixed in equimolar proportions to form an albumin-like complex with a reconstituted middle domain. Thus, two primary fatty acid binding sites are assigned to the carboxyl-terminal domain, one primary site is assigned to the amino-terminal half, and the secondary sites are assigned to the middle domain. This distribution suggests albumin to be a less symmetrical binding molecule than theoretical models predict. This work also demonstrates the power of NMR for the study of microenvironments of individual fatty acid binding sites in specific domains.