The conformational state of histones in isolated chicken erythrocyte chromatin was studied using procedures developed for probing surface proteins on membranes. Under controlled conditions, only exposed tyrosyl residues react with iodide radicals, generated either by the oxidant, chloramine-T (paratoluenesulfonyl chloramide), or the enzyme lactoperoxidase, giving monoidotyrosine. Using 125-iodine, this study compared the reactive tyrosines in free and bound histones H4, and H5. The relative extent of iodination of these histones within (H4) and outside (H5) of the nucleosomes was measured after extraction and gel electrophoresis. Each of the histones was further analyzed for the extent of specific tyrosine iodination by separating the tryptic peptides by high voltage electrophoresis. The identity of the labeled peptide was determined by dansylation of the amino acids present in each hydrolyzed peptide. The results show that there is a difference in the conformational arrangement of these histones on chromatin and in the free forms, since in chromatin not all tyrosine residues are as accessible for iodination as in the denatured state. Residue 53 of histone H5 for instance is more reactive than residues 28 and 58, indicating that the segments containing the latter residues are involved in either protein-DNA or protein-protein interactions. In histone H4, preferential labeling of 2 of the 4 tyrosines present was also observed.