2-Methylfuran (2-MF), a constituent of cigarette smoke and coffee, causes necrosis of liver, lungs, and kidneys in rodents. 2-MF is metabolically activated by mixed-function oxidases to acetylacrolein, a reactive metabolite that binds covalently to microsomal protein. The hepatic microsomal metabolism of 2-MF to reactive metabolite required the presence of NADPH and oxygen and was dependent on incubation time and substrate concentration. The microsomal metabolism of 2-MF was inducible by pretreatment of rats with phenobarbital and was inhibited by piperonyl butoxide and N-octyl imidazole, which indicates that the metabolism of 2-MF may be mediated by cytochrome P-450. Acetylacrolein was a potent inhibitor of mixed-function oxidase and completely inhibited the microsomal metabolism of 2-MF, indicating that 2-MF is a suicide substrate for the enzyme. The sulfhydryl nucleophile cysteine was a better trapping agent of the reactive metabolite of 2-MF than N-acetylcysteine or glutathione. Lysine decreased the covalent binding of 2-MF metabolites, presumably by reacting with the aldehyde group of acetylacrolein. In addition, in the presence of NADPH, 2-MF was bioactivated by both pulmonary and renal cortical microsomes to reactive metabolites that were covalently bound to microsomal proteins.