Injection of a single dose of[ethyl-1,2(-3)H]or[ethyl-1(-14C]- ethyl carbamate into 12-day old male[C57BL/6 x C3H/He]F1 mice or of[ethyl-1,2(-3H]ethyl carbamate into adult male A/Jax mice resulted in the formation of labeled 1,N6-ethenoadenosine and 3,N4-ethenocytidine adducts in the hepatic RNA. These adducts were characterized by comigration on h.p.l.c. of 3H or 14C in enzymatic hydrolysates of the RNA with synthetic standards. Both the ethenoadenosine and ethenocytidine were further characterized by their conversion to acetylated products that comigrated with acetylated synthetic standards. The ethenoadenosine was also converted by anhydrous trifluoroacetic acid to a product that comigrated with synthetic 1,N6-ethenoadenine. The levels of adducts in the hepatic RNA 12 h after a single injection of 0.5-0.6 mg of ethyl carbamate/g body weight were 6-10 and 2-3 pmol/mg RNA of ethenoadenosine and ethenocytidine, respectively. No labeled ethenoadenosine or ethenocytidine could be detected in the hepatic RNA of mice given[1-14C]ethanol, an enzymatic hydrolysis product of ethyl carbamate. These data indicate that ethyl carbamate may be metabolically activated by dehydrogenation to vinyl carbamate and subsequent epoxidation of the latter compound as previously proposed. Vinyl carbamate epoxide may form etheno derivatives in a manner analogous to that demonstrated for chloroethylene oxide, an electrophilic metabolite of vinyl chloride. Vinyl carbamate has been shown to have the same spectrum of tumor induction as ethyl carbamate but to be much more active than the latter carcinogen.